How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps
by The Blue Engine
Summary: Alaska Acevedo is on a mission: she wants to prove she can win the Indigo League without using a traditional starter, blogging about her adventures on the way. But her journey is thrown into chaos when two malicious TV producers and an insane scientist both begin plots to destroy Kanto, and Alaska is forced into a war she wants no part of, but is the only one that can defeat them.
1. Prologue: Chrono Island

**Prologue **

_September 7th 2008_

_The island region of __Chrono__Island__ had been shaken to it's core that afternoon. _

_In the middle of a calm, peaceful day, where the sun, sea and wind were perfect, a huge explosion rose up for the South East of __Five__Island__. The orange and yellow fist came from one of the, apparently, abandoned warehouses on the town outskirts. It knocked over a dozen surrounding trees, and started a forest fire, causing Pokemon to flee into the skies. But the fire was quickly snuffed, due to a Blastoise and Lapras that appeared out of nowhere. Witnesses told the police later that they saw five figures leave the building, one of whom had sent the Blastoise out. A double battle had ensured, and two of the people were assisted by wild Pokemon. Once the other two had defeated, several fisherman stated they had jumped off the cliff, landing in the waters below. Once the fire had been put out, the other figures flew away on their flying Pokemon._

* * *

_Several hours later, the police were no closer to discovering who this figures where. The witnesses, who were mainly trainers, had said that they had been more concerned for the safety of the wild Pokemon, and the heat coming from the flames made it hard to see through. The police searched through the ashes, taking pictures of shoe prints in ash, and some pieces of fabric. But the hard part came from entering the warehouse.  
The warehouse used to be a grey-blue, two storeys, with a red tiled roof, and was very large, with a surrounding fence and a courtyard. It had been used to house supplies that went to Kanto, mainly stuff for the Celadon Game Corner, who ordered a lot of supplies from here. But several months earlier, the warehouse had suddenly and without notice shut down. Residents of __Five__Island__ were curious by this, and some kids had tried investigating it, but a razor wire fence had still been around it, making it impossible to get in. After a few weeks, most people forgot about it, and the warehouse fell into disrepair.  
_

_Now, it was beyond repair. Most of the front walls had been blasted out, and there was a huge crater covering most of the floor. The roof had caved in, and the carpets in the offices had burnt up. The wooden frame was black from the flames, and if the warehouse would be rebuilt, it would have to be knocked down and have a new frame. The building now looked sad and useless, and residents have gathered outside to stare at the fallen structure.  
_

_Detective Inspector Arthur Reynolds stood in the middle of the warehouse, staring around at the charred structure. He had been one of the top police officers in the __Sevii__Islands__ for years, and had headed several investigations into possible arsons amongst other things over the years. And, as he looked around at this building, he felt like something was different.  
_

_"John," Arthur yelled towards an officer a few metres away. A young, blonde haired officer rushed over, and stood eagerly next to Arthur.  
_

_"Yes sir?" He asked chirpily. Arthur looked down at him and sighed in his mind. John reminded Arthur of himself at a young age: bright eyed, cheery, ready for the next case to crack. But now Arthur was nearing his fifties, with greying hair and wrinkling skin. And having investigated several grizzly murders hadn't done well for his mental health.  
_

_"I think we should wrap up here for the night. We are losing light here, and I don't think we can look through black ash in the dark." The detective explained.  
_

_"Shall we keep people on sight to guard?" John asked.  
_

_"Err… you and __Wilson__ guard, and I'll get some other people to help and take over." Arthur said, and John nodded and rushed off. Arthur sighed and watched him go, and then gave the ruined building one last look, before walking stiffly out of the building.  
_

_Once his polished leather shoes had stepped out of the structure, there was a creak. One of the undamaged floor tiles began to rise upwards, pushing the ash and some fallen timber aside. The tile fell backwards, leaving a big square hole. Two hands followed it, gripping the sides as a figure came up.  
_

_The man was obviously a scientist: a white lab coat over a plain shirt and tie, dark glasses, pasty complexion, slicked back hair, and was holding some papers nervously. The man had a fresh scar over his left eyebrow, and there was a burn and dirt on his coat. Ignoring these, the scientist checked the coast was clear, and then scuttled over towards some rubble. The room, which now had no walls and the remains of a desk in it, had once been the mans private office, and he had done a lot of work on that table. He pushed roof plaster off the burnt desk, and found a laptop. The plaster had caused the screen to be cracked beyond repair, and the keyboard section had been smashed.  
_

_"No no no!" The man hissed, and threw the laptop aside. He looked out through where the doors had been, and saw that the police officers were standing about ten metres away, but they could probably hear him if he made too much noise. _

_The scientist ran towards a fallen filing cabinet, where a hole had been blasted. Half of the papers inside had been burnt, but severely folders were unharmed. And, a spare mobile phone was in there. The man grabbed it and turned it on, and 'GIDEON'S PHONE' came up on the screen. He pocketed it, grabbed the folders, and ran back to the hole as stealthy as possible.  
_

_Once he was back through the hole and had pulled the tile back, Gideon turned on a light. He was in a metal bomb shelter, something he had built ages ago as protection. There was a table, with scientific equipment behind some cabinet doors, a bookcase full of fiction and non-fiction, two beds, a fridge, microwave and oven, and a computer and small TV. It would be enough, for now.  
_

_"So, what have those brats left for me…" Gideon mumbled, and flicked through the folders. He was annoyed about his lab being destroyed, especially as he had lost his old one when Giovanni had run off. This one had been adequate, but then they had to come and blow it up. And now he had lost most of his files, and all he had left was useless: instructions for certain machines, how to use different computer documents, plans for defunct and impossible projects.  
_

_"USELESS!" Gideon yelled, and threw the ones he had searched through across the room. Only one was left, and he reluctantly opened it.  
_

_Something fell out his lap.  
_

_Gideon was surprised, and held the object up to the light. It looked like a computer disc, but it appeared to be glowing black and purple, and the colours were swirling. Gideon pondered, and then his face lit up.  
_

_"Operation Lavender…" He whispered. With an air of excitement, Gideon flipped through the papers. All the instructions, all the lists of resources, all the places to go and people to meet, everything was in here. These were all Gideon needed to complete Giovanni's Master Plan, the real reason behind everything he had done, including infiltrate Silph Co.  
_

_It looked like things would be going to Gideon's plans after all…_


	2. Blog 1: Introduction

**Blog One: Introduction**

Hello there, internet dwellers.

I figure I should start this off by introducing myself: the name's Alaska. Alaska Acevedo, to be precise. I am of a mere thirteen years of age, and I currently live in Viridian City, Kanto. I have black hair and I'm short: that's all you lot need to know *glares at all you creepy perverts*

So, if you have come across this blog, you are probably wondering what this is all about. Most people don't really put "conquer" in the title of something, unless they are plotting something diabolical, like taking over the world or making more Disney sitcoms.  
Well, you'll be pleased to hear, I am not planning anything evil… unless you work for Silph Television Inc.

I should probably explain a few things first.

Back in 2007, this guy called Red began the champion of the Kanto Pokemon League. And for SIX years he has held the title. The only title I've ever had is "Most Beautiful Handwriting" back in the Year One, but I only had that one for a few days (bloody Susan Smith!) …. Anywho, Red has been the big boss for ages. He is dating this girl, Leaf, also for six years, and they are awesome! People even tried combing their names together, but "Reaf" and "Led" don't really sell magazines, do they? Leaf herself is current gym leader of my hood, Viridian City Gym. Her cousin, this guy called Blue, had it for a few years, but than this big thing happened over in Cerulean Cave, and he ended up dying…. Awkward…

This probably seems irrelevant so far, but bear with me!

Several years ago, Silph Co, this big scientific company, began work on their own cable station. It has actually been a pretty big success, and they have managed to grab all of the best dramas from overseas.  
But, they are also famous for having great reality shows. "Survivor: Mt Moon", "The Amazing Evolution Race" and the international hit "Next Top Breeder".

But now they have begun this new one: Indigo Dreams  
The whole purpose is this: three teenagers, two boys and one girl, would be given one of the three regional starter Pokemon (Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle), would get entered in the Pokemon League, and then a camera crew would follow them around Kanto. At several cities, there would be some challenges for them to undergo to test their skills. And at the end, the best trainer would be selected to challenge the Elite Four, and eventually Red.

Now, everyone is really excited about it. It has never been done before, and it has already been sold to Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Isshu! I too was excited about it, as I have always wanted to go on my journey, but then two words ruined it.  
Chloe Carmichael.

These are the two most disgusting words on the planet!  
Chloe Carmichael is this bitchy snob who lives down the road from me. She spends every single weekend having sleepovers for all the girls in the town… except me. I, apparently, am too much of a 'downer" and my jet black hair doesn't allow for me to "fit in." I used to always cry about it when I was younger, but as we all matured, I learnt about what they did: painted toenails, did each others hair, tried on clothes, and played karaoke games, which Chloe always won.

I am a very simple, non-materialistic girl. I do have a PokeGear, as practically everyone does, and I own some CD's and DVD's. But I don't flounce about, waving my parent's money around and acting like a Barbie doll that got brought too life. I work at the local PokeMart for a living, and I get a special discount on stuff. When I was ten, my father gave me a Pidgey for my birthday. My and Paige, as I nicknamed her, have been great friends ever since, but we've never had the courage or the cash to go on our own journey.

Until now!

When I learnt Chloe "Daddy probably bribed the producer" Carmichael would be given the opportunity for a journey, I realised something: why shouldn't I be allowed to go on one? I have saved up enough pay, I have waited long enough! Paige is growing more and more restless, as my mother doesn't like the idea of me letting her out to fly. So, I am going to go out on my own journey, but I don't just want to show Miss Priss up.  
I have noticed that trainers who always get the regional starters end up becoming champions! Red got a Charmander and a PokeDex from Professor Oak, and now Chloe and her male castmates are getting them as well. I want to take on the league with Pidgey as my starter, and I don't even want one of those overused, overrated, over-wanted little critters.

So, I have just eight gyms standing between me and glory! Do you think Paige and I will be able to "conquer" Kanto? Please post your thoughts and encouragements, and some cash donations wanted go astray HA HA!

Well, until next time, fare thy well kind readers, and I hope to see some of you on our journeys

Alaska A.


	3. Chapter 1: One Step Forwards

**Chapter One: One Step Forwards**

"Pidgey Pidgey Pidgey! Pidge Eeee Eeee Eeee!"

"I'm nearly done Paige, jeez!"

Alaska Acevedo was tapping furiously at the keys to her laptop, finishing the last sentence of her first blog post.

"And… done!" She announced, and clicked the 'enter' key. The screen turned white for a second as the page updated itself, but than Blog One had been posted. Alaska's eyes quickly scanned through it, making sure it was perfect, and then she smiled to herself. Finally, after three years of putting it off, she was going to go on her journey. And this blog was going to be what fuelled her feet.

"Pidgey Pidge Pidgey!" Paige the Pidgey squawked loudly, and fluttered around Alaska's head. The tawny coloured bird was excited to be going on the journey as well, and began tugging at the collar of Alaska's shirt, trying to get her to move.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Alaska laughed, and she stood up, grabbing her rich purple laptop, which has a blue Silph Co logo on the back.

Alaska looked around her cramped room as she stood up, while Pidgey fluttered overhead. The walls were a simple white, with nothing attached to them. Her single bed was in a corner, with her green and blue sheets in a mess. A home-made bookshelf was in the corner, but Alaska had grown out of most of the books on the shelf. Her desk was also homemade, and the chair she sat on had to be borrowed from the dining table. The Acevedo's were, quite frankly, poor. Alaska's father, William, used to be a technician at the Pokemon Center, but had been laid off due to budget cuts. Alaska's mother, Robin, now had to work as manager of the PokeMart and a nurse at the Pokemon Center to help ends meet, as William spent all day on the coach, watching whatever was on TV. He hadn't said a  
word in over seven months, and his health was deteriorating as he put on weight. Alaska worried what would happen to her family while she was gone, but decided not to let that put her off.

A tatty black bag sat on her bed, which had several changes of clothes, some Pokemon supplies from the mart, a black bathing suit, a bag containing a single person tent, a sleeping bag and pillow, and a novel to help pass the time. Alaska picked up her laptop, slipped it into a hard plastic case, and then placed it in with everything. Paige was already pecking at the doorknob, waiting for Alaska to hurry up.

"You should say goodbye, we aren't going to be back for a while." Alaska explained to Paige, as she looked around her horribly cramped room.

"Pidge Pidge, Pidgey PIDGE!" Paige wailed, and began fluttering around anxiously. This was the most she ever got to stretch her tiny little wings, and Alaska felt sorry for her. She quickly grabbed Paige's PokeBall, zipped up and picked up her bag, and finally opened the door.

The Acevedo household was in a bit of disrepair. The white wallpaper was peeling, the carpet was dirty, and there was dust forming on a small table, which had several plastic flowers in a jar. As Alaska and Paige moved through the house, they passed the foul smelling bathroom, and came out into the kitchen, which had dirty dishes in the sink, an overflowing rubbish bin, and filthy spots all over the surfaces.

"Dad, are you up?" Alaska called, as Paige flew towards a wooden post that was hers. There was no verbal  
response, but there was a sudden blare of music. Alaska smiled, and strode quickly towards the family room.  
The dark green, mouldy curtains were drawn, the lights were off, so the only light came from the television, with flickering images of a pop star's latest music video. William Acevedo sat a fading red arm chair, staring at the screen. The man, who had once been fit, handsome and with a full head of hair, had gone downhill in the past few months. His gut now hang out of his singlet and over his pants, his black hair was going grey, and a beard was growing like a parasite over his aging face. William looked at Alaska as she walked slowly into the room, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Hey. I'm just heading down to the Pokemon League to register. I should be back in an hour, when Mum and Freddie are home, alright?" Alaska explained. William just nodded, and looked back at the television screen. Alaska sighed, and walked out of the room, and soon out of the house. 

* * *

Half an hour later, Alaska was strolling down Route 22, heading West towards the Pokemon League. It was midday, so the sun was shining high above the route, but it was very quiet. Summer wasn't usually the time of year people started their Pokemon journeys, so the grassy route was empty. Alaska stared around at the rocky wall that made up Victory Road to her right, while tall green trees and long grass stood to her left.

"Isn't this beautiful weather?" Alaska called up to Paige. The Pidgey was flying high above her, soaking up the sun and enjoying being out and about.

"Pidgey Pidgey!" She cried, and did a loop-de-loop, making full advantage of all the open air available to her. Alaska laughed, and continued walking. She had left all of her stuff behind, planning to collect it as she headed back into Viridian. All she had with her was her identification forms, which she needed for the registration.  
Ten eventful minutes later, where the only real change in scenery was a small pond containing some playful Poliwag, Alaska was beginning to grow bored of walking.  
_  
Hopefully I'll be able to improve over the next weeks, otherwise I'm screwed! _Alaska groaned inside her head, and looked up at Paige. The Pidgey was going on ahead, and flew over a row of trees that blocked the league entrance building.

"Oi Paige, wait up!" Alaska shouted, and began running as fast as she could. She was dressed in a plain red shirt, denim jeans and three-year old trainers that were a bit too small, so it wasn't the best outfit for running. But Alaska ignored this, and tried desperately to catch up to Paige. She turned right, following several helpful signs, and plunged into some long grass.

Everyone knows about the long grass. These patches of green that needed a good mow were the homes of numerous Pokemon. As there was nowhere else for wild Pokemon to wander, without the risk of being ganged up on by trainers, poachers or anything like that, they began building nests in trees, lakes, ponds, the ocean, caves and grass. This way, they were able to have the advantage over trainers, and battle them when they felt like it. People respected their views, so those without Pokemon always stayed clear of these areas, and Pokemon, in return, didn't attack them.

Alaska was very cautious about stepping into the long grass: you never knew if you'd get no Pokemon or a lot of them. And with Paige flying away, that made it more risky. She took several steps forwards, looking anxiously around. A Ponyta was chewing grass by the trees, while, several Rattata ran by the lake. The Ponyta glanced over briefly, but went back to enjoying its lunch. Alaska sighed, and ran briskly out of the grassy patch, before sprinting down the road.

She froze as she approached the League Building.

The Indigo League Headquarters had a fantastic building. It had earthy brown coloured walls, with mirrored glass windows so you couldn't peer in, and a grand stone staircase, leading up to huge sliding doors. There were several grey pillars supporting an extra part of the roof. And, on this extra part, was the current logo: the silhouette of a trainer, with a PokeBall embedded on their chest, while a jet of fire, several leaves, and a waterfall surrounded them. These obvious references to Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise brought Alaska's elation down a bit, and made her more determined to do what she had set out to prove.

"Pidgey Pidgey!" Paige soared happily out of the sky, and landed smoothly onto Alaska's shoulder. Her pink beak was currently in a cute smile, and the brown feathered Pokemon looked very happy. Alaska smiled, and gave her a hug and a stroke.

"I'm glad that I'll be doing this with you." Alaska whispered.

"Eee Pidge!" Paige agreed, and pecked affectionately at Alaska's ear. She laughed, and began walking up the steps.

A few moments later, the doors had parted, and Alaska was in the grand entrance hall. The walls were painted the same colour as outside, and had a matching red carpet. Black leather sofas and armchairs were against the walls, and there were two desks on Alaska's right: one had a nurse behind it, with a large metal box and a computer, while the other had a smiling man with a cash register and several stands of Pokemon supplies.

"Wow, this is a really big hall!" Alaska gasped, and looked up at the crystal chandelier above her head. She began walking forwards, and saw what she was looking for: at the opposite end of the hall, there were two guards standing by another set of sliding doors, but next to them were two more desks. One was for trainers to come and show their eight badges, and have their record checked and confirmed, while the other was a registration desk.

Alaska rushed towards it, with Paige taking off to flutter ahead. The man at the desk looked up as they approached, and he smiled warmly at them.

"Hello there, how may I help you?" He asked. He was going grey, had half-moon glasses perched on his crooked nose, and was wearing an old green jumper.

"I'm here to sign up for the Indigo League please." Alaska stated, as she stopped in front of the desk.

"Well, it is lovely to see someone willing to do it!" The man said with a beam, and quickly typed something on his laptop. "Now, you will have to fill out some forms, have a picture taken, and then we can make your trainer card, give you your badge case and some PokeBalls to start off with!" Alaska nodded, and smiled at Paige. She was about to become a trainer! 

* * *

One hour later, Alaska began walking back down the route, practically dancing as she held her trainer card in the sky.

"I'M A TRAINER! I'M A TRAINER!" She shouted, and spun around in her joy.

"PIDGEY PIDGE!" Paige cried as well, and she twirled about in the air, making Gusts of wind around her. Alaska laughed and danced with joy, and looked up at Victory Road.

_I'll be back here, and I will become the Champion of Kanto! _She thought, and smiled proudly. Paige began to fly over the grass, causing the Ponyta from before to run away in distress. Alaska heard splashes as a school of Goldeen moved away from Paige, and she walked forwards.

"Paige, don't annoy the wild Pokemon, they don't seem to like it!" Alaska scolded.

"Pidge Pidgey Pidge!" Paige huffed, and began circling a tree.

"Come on, just come here and let's head home!" Alaska shouted. The Pidgey just poked her tongue out, and dived into the branches of the tree. Alaska sighed, and walked towards the tree. It was towering over her, but she had to get hold of Pidgey. But before Alaska could get close, there was a loud screech. Paige rocketed out of the branches, and was followed by a white ball of fluff.

"What the-" Alaska gasped, and stepped backwards. The ball of fluff landed, but limbs and a tail shot out. The Pokemon stood poised, its eyes narrowed over its brown nose.

"It's a Mankey!" Alaska gasped.

"Man-KEY-KEY!" The Mankey screeched, and slashed at Alaska. She jumped backwards, and the long claws missed her.

"All right, that's it!" Alaska snarled, and pulled a PokeBall out. Paige flew down to her shoulder, and Mankey glared at the Pidgey.

"No one claws at me and gets away with it!" Alaska yelled. "Paige, Quick Attack!" Paige rocketed forwards, streaks of energy formed around. The Mankey leapt forwards, ready to unleash more Fury Swipes. Alaska simply watched, ready to catch her first Pokemon.


	4. Chapter 2: Good Neighbours Good Enemies

**Chapter Two: When Good Neighbours Become Good Enemies**

Paige flew forwards as fast as possible, and she slammed into Mankey's stomach, causing the fluffy monkey to roll backwards.

"Man Man Man MAN!" Mankey shouted, and he jumped up, with his claws glowing white. Alaska watched as Mankey began swiping at Paige.

"Pidge!" She squawked, and crash-landed at Alaska's feet.

"Oh my, are you alright?" Alaska asked.

"Pidgey Eeey!" The Pidgey replied softly, and managed to get up.

"Alright, I want you to use Gust!" Alaska instructed. Paige smiled, and began flapping her wings furiously, chirping as she did so. A strong gust of wind blasted Mankey backwards, preventing the Pig Monkey Pokemon from using what looked like Focus Energy.

"Now finish this with Steel Wing!" Alaska shouted. Paige's wings glowed silver, and she swooped down. Mankey leapt up, looking angry about being attacked. He glowed a red-brown and seemed to be gaining energy. Paige turned right, so her left wing cut across Mankey, making him stumble, but not doing enough damage.

"Hmm…" Alaska pondered. "I think I should try and catch him now, right?" Paige nodded as she landed on right shoulder, and Alaska beamed.

"Alright then, here goes nothing!" Alaska said, and pulled a PokeBall out of her pocket. This was a moment she'd been waiting for years to do: to catch her own Pokemon by herself!

"Go PokeBall!" She shouted, and threw it with all her might. Mankey had been focusing on conserving its energy, and was startled as the red-and-white metal capsule hit him on the head. The powers within the ball broke down Mankey's molecular structure, and his red particles were sucked inside. The ball fell to the ground, and Alaska and Paige excitedly ran forwards. The ball shook once… twice… thrice… PING! Mankey stopped struggling, and the ball came to a stop. Alaska froze for a second, and looked at Paige, who was smiling excitedly. Than, Alaska beamed with like a child in a candy store, and she picked up the small ball.

"BOOYAH!" She shouted, and Paige chirped in agreement. Alaska bounced the ball, and began pondering. "I think I will nickname him…. Darwin!"

"Pidgey Pidge!" Paige agreed, and Alaska beamed. She'd caught her own Pokemon, and had started her journey: it was the best day ever!

"Oh my god, Alaska!"

That perfect day shattered, and a chill of disgust went down Alaska's spine as she heard those four words, and knew whose voice they belonged to.

Mitchell Melton

Right next door to Alaska, between her house and Chloe's, was the Melton household. Mr Melton worked for Silph Co. in Saffron City, while Mrs Melton stayed at home, though she did a lot of volunteer and charity work around the city. As Mr Melton spent most of the year living in Saffron, whenever Mrs Melton had to go and organise a food drive or a school function, Mitchell would be home alone.

So, back before Alaska got her job at the PokeMart, her mother Robin had suggested to Mrs Melton Alaska do some babysitting. Alaska didn't mind at first: all the cool people on TV seemed to be doing it, so why not her?  
But than she spent her first few hours there.

Mitchell was hyperactive, sort of like an Electrode on drugs. Alaska had brought board games, but Mitchell kept getting bored and began throwing the pieces at her. Next time Alaska went over, Mitchell broke all the DVD's she had gotten as he ran around maniacally. The third time, a fun game of tag cost $20,000 when Mitchell knocked over a bunch of expensive vases and broke Mrs Melton's good china plates. And every time Alaska stepped foot in that house, Mitchell would somehow break something, smash something, stain something, burn something, and he once flooded the entire upstairs.

Mitchell's maniacal behaviour had forced Alaska to get her job at the PokeMart, hoping that her new job would get her out of the poorly paying babysitting gig. But every so often, she would still be forced to go over to the hellish home, and deal with whatever form of misery Mitchell decide to put her through.

"I can't believe it's you!" Mitchell's squeaky voice said again. Alaska looked at Paige, but she had taken off into the air, and had fluttered over towards a bush to hide.

"I'll get you back!" Alaska huffed, and took a deep breathe before turning around.

Walking through the long grass was the now ten year old boy she had come to despise, waving and smiling happily at her. Mitchell had light brown hair, a slightly elongated face, pasty white skin, and was wearing mismatched coloured clothing, with a large bag on his back. His face always reminded Alaska of a Raticate, but only cuter. The awkward looking child stumbled out of the grass, grinning goofily, and walked up towards Alaska.

"Hello!" Mitchell said, and raised his hand. Alaska forced a smile and gave him the high-five he wanted.

"Why are you here" Alaska asked, not meaning to sound as rude. But Mitchell just smiled, and pointed over at the league building.

"My mummy told me you were going on your journey a little while ago, so I decided I would go on mine as well!" Mitchell explained happily. Alaska's eyes bulged and her jaw dropped, but Mitchell had turned around and didn't notice. "My mum thought it would be a great idea, so we arranged everything, and now I'm travelling!"

"That's great… just great…" Alaska mumbled through clenched teeth, and she looked like she was ready to stab someone.

"So, have you already signed up?" Mitchell asked, and he was dancing on the spot, eager to move off towards the building.

"Yes, just a few minutes ago, actually. I'm about to head back into town." Alaska explained, and pointed over towards Viridian. Mitchell frowned, but then his face lit up again.

"It shouldn't take more than a minute, right?" He asked, but than quickly cut her off again. "I'll rush over there, do everything, and rush back here, and we can start our journey together!" And before Alaska could reply, Mitchell began running off, waving too her as he went. There was a rustling sound, and Paige flew out of the bushes, and began frantically flying away.

"Hey, if you're ditching him, I'm coming as well!" Alaska cried, and ran after the chuckling Pidgey. Alaska didn't want to hurt the young boy's feelings, but she knew that if she did travel with him, she probably would have found a nice large cliff to jump off before the end of the week. 

* * *

After ten minutes of sprinting down the open route, Alaska and Paige arrived, tired and panting, back in Viridian.

"Remind me… never to run… again!" Alaska sighed, and collapsed onto an old park bench at the edge of the route.

"Pidgey Pidge Pidgey!" Paige added, and she roosted on the back of the seat. Alaska had a drink of water from a nearby fountain, and let Paige have a quick drink, before looking the city that had been her home for thirteen years.

Across the road from the route was the Pokemon Center, with its orange roof, cream coloured walls and sliding glass doors. Next to it was the PokeMart, a much smaller building, but one Alaska knew much better. There were more houses, some fancy and modern, others old fashioned but homely, the majority painted white, steely grey or a dull brown. The two storey battling center known as the Trainer House rose up above the houses, and many trainers usually stopped in there to get a feel to battling. And then, in the very corner of the city, was the Viridian City Pokemon Gym. It was closed for the week while Leaf re-battled Red for the top spot, so Alaska had no intention of visiting it.

But she did very a little bit of sadness at the idea of leaving. Alaska did like the city, even if it wasn't that exciting and most travellers passed through fairly quickly. But she did have a couple of friends, and her family was here, and her well paying job.

_Mum said most people felt this way, but I didn't think it would happen to me! _Alaska thought sadly, and let out a sigh.

"Pidge Pidgey?" Paige asked, and Alaska looked at her, wiping a small tear away.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" She replied, and carried on before Pidgey could interrupt. "Now, we better head towards the Pokemon Centre before Mitchell catches up with us!" Paige flew upwards at this, and Alaska laughed. She got up as well, and quickly rushed forwards.

SMACK!

Alaska had been so focused on her sadness that she didn't notice where she was going, and had walked right into someone. She toppled backwards, and moaned in pain as sharp rocks jabbed her in the back.

"Watch were your goi- oh, it's you!" A familiar voice sneered, and for the second time that hour, a shiver went down Alaska's spine. She opened her eyes, and found two figures over her: one was a worried looking Paige, and the other was Chloe Carmichael.

"You, what are you doing here?" Alaska huffed, as she leapt to her feet. "Aren't you meant to be filming your reality garbage?" Chloe scoffed, and tossed back her luscious blonde hair.

"Of course I am, silly!" She sneered, and laughed loudly and cruelly. Alaska balled up her fists, and examined Chloe, trying to find the best place to hit her. She was wearing a long pink, flowery dress that looked old fashioned but good on her, and was wearing lots of makeup. Behind her, a stern looking woman was talking to a camera crew, while two boys chatted, holding up PokeBalls.

"I'm guessing these are your new buddies?" Alaska asked, smiling, as she looked pointedly at the beer gut on the boom operator, and the flies buzzing around the cameraman's body. Chloe shuddered slightly, but retained her uptight demean.

"I don't care for the lower paid peasants!" She said importantly, and clicked her fingers. "Damian, Lochy, will you both come here?" The two boys turned around, and walked towards their female co-star.

"What is it now Chloe?" One boy huffed indignantly.

"Is this one of your friends?" The second one asked.

"NO!" Alaska and Chloe exclaimed at the same time, making Paige leap into the air and caused the boys to exchange puzzled looks.

"This is just Alaska, some loner emo girl from my school." Chloe explained coldly, and Alaska scowled.

"Watch it Carmichael!" She hissed.

"Now now, no need to get your bloomers in a twist!" Chloe retorted, and Alaska looked ready to attack. The boy who had spoken first stepped inbetween them, smiling warmly.

"I'm Damian, Damian Darme." He explained. He had sandy blonde hair that a surfer might sport, with tanned skin and dazzling white teeth and blue eyes to match. He looked well built, with a slight muscle underneath his tight fitting T-shirt. He was taller than the others and seemed nice, but Alaska could feel the cockiness and self-importance radiating off him.

"Alaska Acevedo." Alaska replied, and Damian nodded, shaking his hair slightly as he did so.

"Stop showing off McDreamy!" The second boy laughed, and pushed him out of the way. He was shorter and not as fit, with longer red-brown hair, a sprinkling of acne, and a light brown skin tone that gave Alaska the impression he was trying too hard to be cool. "I'm Lachlan Lynch, but everyone calls my Lochy." Alaska just nodded, and examined the stars of the show. It seemed the producers had chosen Chloe and Damian to be easy on the eye, while Lachlan seemed like he would be the normal guy/comedic relief/Ron Weasley to these two leads. It was smart choosing, as it would attract different types of people to watch it, and Alaska nodded in her mind at the producers decisions. However, she had her own journey to deal with, and couldn't waste time with these people.

"That's interesting." Alaska replied, nodding with false enthusiasm. "But, if you'd excuse me, I need to get to the Pokemon Center. It was nice meeting you all, and I looking forward to-"

"Hang on a second!" Damian interrupted, and side stepped in front of her. "Are you a trainer as well?"

"Of course not, this Pidgey just stalks me!" Alaska replied sarcastically.

"Pidge Pidge!" Paige laughed, and Damian's eyebrows narrowed, his attempts at being charming fading away.

"Well, if you're a trainer, do you want to come with us to the Trainer House? We're about to go there for our first challenge."

"It should be a bit of fun." Lachlan added.

"I'm sure Alaska is far too busy making out with women to come!" Chloe cut in, laughing falsely while glaring at Alaska to leave.

"A lesbian joke, how original of you!" Alaska snapped back, and Damian and Lachlan backed away, sensing the tension from the two. It was clear to both of them that these girls hated each other, and that it would be best not to intervene. Alaska pondered for a moment: should she put her journey on hold for a few minutes while she showed Chloe up?

_I've waited half my life: I can wait a little longer! _Alaska thought.

"Thanks for the offer Damian, I'd be glad to take part." She said sweetly, and Chloe's jaw dropped. "I'll see you all in a minute!" And with that, Alaska walked happily towards the Pokemon Center, glad to delay things if it meant showing her old rival up.


	5. Chapter 3: The Bird and the Seed

**Chapter Three: The Bird and the Seed**

It only took ten minutes for the nurse to fully heal Paige and Darwin at the Pokemon Center, so Alaska was soon on her way towards the Trainers House. She'd never participated in a proper battle before, asides from the occasional battle with her younger brother Freddie. Her two older siblings, twins Edward and Emily, had moved to the Sevii Islands to attend a special boarding school and university, so Alaska hadn't had the chance to know them properly, let alone get the chance to battle them.

But Alaska didn't want to think about her family too much while she was out on her exciting new adventure, and the teenager put all thoughts of her family into the back of her head, and purposely turned away from looking at her small, sad house as she walked past.

The Trainer's House towered above her, truly radiating the power it possessed. The two storey structure, with a large basement area underneath, had huge wooden walls mixed in with red-brown brick to support the structure, and a pleasant green roof glowed in the sunlight on top. Because of these colours, Alaska had always thought of the building as being like a tree, and smiled at that image as she slowly walked through the doors.

"Welcome to the Viridian Trainer House." A woman in a purple skirt with matching jacket and hat stood at a reception desk by the door, a megawatt smile beaming down at Alaska as she stepped in.

"Oh, hey there, what's going on?" Alaska asked, placing her bag down on the desk. The woman remained smiling, but she seemed to glare at the filthy bag on her nice polished desk. Alaska awkwardly removed it and the receptionist returned to her calmer composure.

"I'm sorry to say that our main battling area downstairs is closed," the receptionist explained. "But our training area upstairs is still open."

"I'm actually here to go downstairs, I'm…." Alaska took a deep breath to prevent herself from throwing up before continuing. "a friend of Chloe Carmichael." The receptionist looked like stunned, but she quickly checked a list of her computer and nodded.

"Let me show you the way." And she walked out from behind her desk, heading towards a staircase at the end of the large floor. Alaska walked behind her, examining the room as she went. There were lots of tables and chairs scattered around the place, all looking very flash. Two bookcases stood side by side on one wall next to a large white machine, while widescreen Pokemon-PC Computers were on the opposite end for people to do their appropriate research. No one else was on this floor, but shouts and cries could be heard coming down from upstairs, and the whole building shook temporarily.

"Don't worry, we're structurally sound." The receptionist laughed, and Alaska forced a laughed, but rolled her eyes and gave the woman the finger as they headed down the stairs. There was some quiet chatter coming from down here, and Alaska had been expecting a lot more noise than this from a battling arena.

"Miss Anderson, Miss Anderson, I have a young lady here for your group." The receptionist skipped down the last few stairs, and Alaska trotted after. The battling area was about twice the size of the ground floor, with about four different battling fields, several metal cabinets on the wall, and a refreshment stand for trainers, along with bleachers.

"This room is so cool!" Alaska murmured, finally getting off the stairs. She suddenly found three cameramen standing around her, with other reality show workers only a few feet away. Chloe, along with Damian and Lachlan, stood in the middle of the battle area, talking amongst themselves. A Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle were running around them, their laughter the loudest thing in the room. Alaska wanted to march over to them and challenge Chloe, but then a clipped voice filled the room.

"What do you mean another teenager, we didn't order a fourth one!" Alaska turned around as the cameramen nervously stood aside. The stern looking woman Alaska had seen earlier marched forwards, glaring down at her. The woman's jet black hair was done in a bun, showing off her long thing face and half-moon glasses. She was dressed like a secretary with a pencil skirt, white blouse and smart black shoes, a clipboard under her arm. She was looking down at Alaska like she was a piece of filth, ready to squash her like a bug. Alaska didn't usually get scared, but the way the woman was looking at her sent a shiver down her spine.

"My name is Amanda, Amanda Anderson." The woman said quickly, stuttering slightly on the S in her name. "And who exactly are you?"

"I'm Alaska, Alaska Acevedo." Alaska replied, accidentally copying the woman's stutter, earning her an even sterner glare. "I know Chloe and I've come to battle her." Amanda looked down at Alaska, and then turned crossly at Chloe, who seemed to cower even though there weren't even near each other.

"I see." Amanda said, half sighing half snapping. "I am the producer of this television programme, and I do not like it when things do not go the way I arranged them." Alaska felt like she was being scolded by some uptight nun as the producer stared evilly down at her, this little pest that was interrupting her television show. "I'll give you five minutes to battle, but then I want you on your way, we have a segment to film here!" And then Amanda walked away, heading over towards the scared looking receptionist. Alaska simply shrugged and moved quickly over towards the three stars.

"You don't want to piss this woman off." Damian warned as Alaska arrived. "She already seems like she's going to be a nasty cow." Alaska simply shrugged and dropped her bag on the floor. Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander all came to a halt from their chasing game, looking up at Alaska in shock.

"So Chloe, which of these little darlings am I going to defeat?" Alaska asked with a wide grin. Chloe's eyes narrowed as she glared at her enemy, and then bent down and picked up the Bulbasaur, who nuzzled his new trainer.

"This is my new Pokemon!" Chloe explained, giving Bulbasaur a hug. Charmander and Squirtle moved towards Damian and Lachlan respectively, and the boys picked their starter Pokemon up as well.

"Is using a Bulbasaur against a Pidgey really a good idea?" Lachlan chuckled, and Chloe's smiling face suddenly dropped, causing Alaska to burst out into laughter.

"It isn't about type advantage, we are both new trainers!" Chloe mumbled, but Alaska's knees began to go weak from laughing, and Damian and Lachlan smirked as well. Chloe growled and angrily marched over to a spot on the battle field. "Hurry up Acevedo!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Alaska said breathlessly through her laughter, and she managed to stumble on over to her position. Damian, Lachlan and their Pokemon positioned themselves to watch, and Amanda stopped yelling at the receptionist in order to watch the match.

"Come on Bulbasaur, this'll be fun!" Chloe told her new starter, and put the green grass type at the floor between her feet.

"Bulba Bulb!" Bulbasaur said happily and waddled forwards, his little green seed shaking with each step he did.

"Not only will it be fun, it'll also be quick." Alaska added, making Chloe scowl, and then pulled her own PokeBall out. "Paige, let's go!" The PokeBall spiralled through the air and burst open, the Pidgey forming and fluttering into the air.

"Pidgey Pidge Pid!" Paige chirped, looking between Alaska, Chloe and the Bulbasaur. But than she caught on and winked at Alaska, making her laugh.

"Begin with Tackle!" Chloe ordered, and she pointed overdramatically at Paige. Alaska and Paige simply exchanged looks and smirked at each other.

"Sand Attack." Alaska commanded, and Paige dove down before Bulbasaur knew what to do: she whacked her wing against the ground, showering Bulbasaur in dirt and sand. It hit him in the eyes, instantly blinding him.

"Saur Saur!" He moaned, and ran forwards without any knowledge of where he was going. Chloe gasped as her Pokemon ran straight into the wall, and Alaska and Paige exchanged giggles.

"She isn't that hard to spot, use Tackle again!" Chloe huffed, and Alaska rolled her eyes.

"You do know that Sand Attack lowers the accuracy of your Pokemon's moves, and Tackle already has a low accuracy?" She explained, smiling at Paige and pleased that she had read that Beginner Trainer's Pamphlet they had at the PokeMart. "I'll just have to punish your silly judgement with Gust!" Chloe looked shocked as Paige flapped her wings frantically, the wind generated striking Bulbasaur and blasting him backwards, sending him hurtling through the air. Chloe squealed and raised her arms, and Bulbasaur bounced off them, making both Alaska and Lachlan roar with laughter.

"B-b-b-but…." Chloe stumbled, and Alaska puffed her chest proudly, Paige doing the same.

"QUICK ATTACK OF DOOM!" Alaska shouted and continued cracking up. Paige moved forwards at an alarming speed, flying into Bulbasaur and striking him. Chloe yelled again as Bulbasaur was sent soaring between her legs, only stopping when he smashed into the wall. Damian ran forwards with a stunned Charmander and looked at the Seed Pokemon.

"He's fainted, looks like Alaska wins." He announced. Alaska mimed a curtsey as Paige landed on her shoulder, bowing to the audience.

"I guess I'll be out of your hair now then." She said. Chloe was at a loss for words, frozen where she was standing, while Lachlan and his Squirtle were struggling not to laugh and Damian was gobsmacked yet impressed. Alaska waltzed proudly back to the stairs, passed the stunned camera crew, walking by the half smirking, half shocked receptionist, but paused at Amanda Anderson, who was looking outraged.

"Goodbye…. For now." Alaska said with a wink, and Paige chirped loudly with laughter as they headed up the staircase, leaving half the people behind them looking like they'd been slapped.


	6. Chapter 4: Leaving on Grand Adventure

**Chapter Four: ****Leaving on a Grand Adventure**

Alaska couldn't help but feel smug as she walked out of the Trainer House: she had just defeated her greatest rival, and very easily at that. The image of Chloe's horrified face was now firm in Alaska's memory, and she laughed to herself as she imagined it over and over again.

"Didn't that make you feel _aliiiive _Paige?" Alaska asked, calling up to her Pidgey. Paige nodded and spun around happily in mid-air, not even slightly tired from that battle. "I knew you'd be happy, and we did perfectly!"

"Pidge Geeeeeee!" Paige replied, and soared up into the air and dived back down gracefully, managing to land perfectly on Alaska's shoulder. Alaska just laughed and began wandering through Viridian City in peace. Now that she had completed this battle, there was only one thing left to do: begin her journey. Alaska had been waiting for this moment for many years, but as she headed back towards her house, Alaska suddenly felt very small. This would be the last time she would enter her house for many weeks, months, possibly years. The last time she would be in her room, see her family, watch her shows, have her mum's food, the last time she'd do tons of things! Alaska would have to fend for herself now, and she hoped she would be able to handle it.

_As long as I have my Pokemon, I'll be fine. _Alaska thought to herself. Paige had been her oldest and only friend for many years, and she pulled out the PokeBall that now contained Darwin the Mankey. _If I keep these two with me, and whatever other Pokemon I catch, I will be fine. Besides, they could provide food if I get hungry. _And Alaska laughed inside her head at her own wit. Paige seemed to have read her mind and glared at Alaska, her beady eyes narrowed.

"Pidgey Pid Pidgeee!" The Pidgey huffed, and fluttered back into the sky in protest, but Alaska could only laugh.

"It's a good thing you're coming with me, I'm going to need some comic relief!" She shouted, and Paige turned around in mid air and gasped: she hated being referred to as "comic relief", and Alaska laughed and sprinted down the road.

"PIDGE!" Paige shouted and chased after her, glowing as she performed a Quick Attack. Alaska was struggling to laugh and run at the same time, but she saw a familiar dilapidated fence up ahead and she jumped over it. Paige soared narrowly past her, her outstretched wings whacking Alaska's feet as she fell onto an old, brown bush. Alaska lay tangled in the dying branches for a few moments, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Oh god Paige, where would I be without you!" She laughed, rolling backwards out of the bush. Paige merely shrugged as she fluttered over, stretching out her talons to help Alaska get back up. Once she was back on her feet and had brushed broken branches off her clothes, Alaska turned around and smiled: she had conveniently landed into her backyard. Their half broken fence that she had recognised enclosed their small one-storey house, with white paint flakes resting like snow on the yellow and brown grass. Cracked flower pots were fill of shrivelled up flowers, and there were several other bushes as well that were dead as well. It had been a hot couple of weeks, and the Acevedo's didn't have the time or money to keep their garden in order, unlike the rest of their street with glossy green grass and bright rainbows of vegetable patches and flower gardens.

The outside of the house was in as much disrepair as the inside. The front window of Freddie's bedroom was cracked, just like all of the bricks around it. Parts of the plumbing had broken, and most of the paint on the front door had peeled off like the fence. Alaska felt depressed staring at her house for too long: sad that their family wasn't as well off as other people, but Alaska knew that her mother hated having such a messy house and garden and that it was really taking a toll.

"Come on then Paige," Alaska said, wiping away a tear. "It's time to say our goodbyes."

"Pidgey Pidge." Paige said, and she patted Alaska on the back. Alaska smiled, but then she scurried on inside, opening up the door and heading, for the last time, inside her house. The house was dark, and Alaska slowed down, stepping cautiously on the creaking floorboards. Had the power been cut again, or had they just not bothered to open the curtains?

"Hello….?" Alaska whispered, and Paige landed nervously on her shoulder. They crept passed Alaska's bags, walking slowly into the kitchen, the only light coming from her father's television in the distance.

"SURPRISE!" Suddenly light flooded the room as the curtains were flung open, and two people appeared in front of them. One of them was Robin, Alaska's mother, while the second was the small bundle of joy that was Freddie.

Robin looked a lot like Alaska, except her black hair had nearly gone completely grey and her face was very wrinkled. The stress of the two jobs, financial problems and being close to eviction had really taken a toll on her looks, but Robin always had a smile and wouldn't let anything get her down.

Freddie on the other hand was at the opposite end of the youth scale. He was only nine and still rather short, his head barely reaching over Alaska's hips. He had wild black hair, a cute little face with big blue mystical eyes and wore the usual mismatched clothing of small children. He was oblivious to the issues of the family, and always managed to cheer them up.

"Oh my god, you guys didn't have to do anything for me!" Alaska wailed, but she ran forwards and hugged the pair of them.

"Of course we had to!" Robin said, jokingly hitting her daughter. "We might not see you for months!" And then she grabbed Paige, who had taken off in fright, and gave the Pidgey a hug too.

"We made you some brownies!" Freddie explained, the cute lisp he had making Alaska smile despite what he'd just said. Freddie liked baking after he had received a cooking game from their grandmother, and always insisted on baking things for special occasions. However, he always misread the recipe and managed to stuff up whatever he made. He either poured in salt or sugar instead of flour, kept eggshells in when he cracked the eggs, or turned the oven up to twice the required temperature. Alaska and Robin exchanged nervous looks as Freddie put a tray onto the bench, the "brownies" inside. But it simply looked as if Freddie had sprinkled ash over bricks, as the kitchen knife Robin tried to put through nearly snapped in half.

"It looks really nice Freddie," Alaska began, putting on her fakest of smiles. "But I'm really in a bit of a rush to get going on my journey." While Alaska had all the time in the world, she didn't know what else to stay to get out of eating the teeth-crunching brownies.

"Oh, ok." Freddie said sadly, clutching his impossibly hard brownies. But than his face lit up and he grabbed a plastic bag from a cupboard. "You can just take the brownies with you on your trip!" Alaska's heart sank, and Paige had to land in order to laugh into her wings.

"Thanks Freddie, that makes me feel better." Alaska replied, and she tossed the plastic bag with the deadly brownies towards her bag, nearly taking a huge chunk of her wall out.

"So, are you leaving now?" Freddie asked, tears forming in his huge eyes. Alaska quickly gave him a hug, not wanting the guilt of him crying to hold her back.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, and I'll try and visit a few times." Alaska explained, hugging him tightly. Freddie simply nodded, sniffing and sobbing loudly. He then pulled away from the hug, wiping his eyes, and rushed away to hide in the corridor.

"I feel so guilty." Alaska moaned. Robin sighed and gave her daughter a tight hug.

"Don't be, it'll just hold you back." Robin whispered. "You deserve to go on your journey, especially now of all times." And she paused as they examined the mouldy, cracked walls and the holes in the carpet. "I want you to enjoy yourself, and I want you to make sure you do great things." Alaska nodded, trying hard not to cry herself. Paige was flying in circles around them, tweeting insanely. Robin pulled out of the hug, trying hard not to cry.

"I guess this is me then." Alaska whispered, and Paige tweeted excitedly at that. "Bye Dad!" William Acevedo didn't reply verbally, but he did turn the television on and off twice, which they had taken to mean as goodbye. "If he moves, make sure you contact me." Robin nodded, the tears now streaming down her face. Alaska wasn't sure what else to say: over the past few weeks they had been building up to this, and during that time they had said all they could possibly say. Alaska didn't want to start crying, and she just picked up her black bag and hoisted it onto her bag.

"Pidge Pidgey Pidge Geeee!" Paige cried, and she managed to use her Gust to open the door. Alaska just laughed and took a step out, looking behind her as she did so. Freddie emerged from the shadows, standing alongside a tearful Robin as they watched Alaska leave. Both of them were waving, and Alaska smiled and waved back before leaving the house. She then walked quickly out of the property, heading onto the main street and off towards Route 2, pushing all thoughts of her family away as fewer houses began to pass them.

"Come on Paige," Alaska shouted upwards to her trusted Pidgey. "It's time this adventure got underway!"

"Pidge!" Paige agreed, and the two girls embarked down Route 2, leaving Viridian, their past lives and everything they knew behind, ready for their grand adventure.


	7. Blog 2: Route This

**Blog Two: Route This**

Hello once again, fine readers.

It has been two days since I set off on my journey, and I must say, it was a pretty lolsy first day, if I say so myself.

First of: I caught a new Pokemon! W00t W00t! It's a Mankey, that little fluffy fighting Pokemon, and I decided to name him Darwin. Cause, ya know, brains beat brawn and all that. He has been rather helpful in aiding Paige in battle, but he does get a little violent when training…. Oh well, nothing like the influence of a kick ass bitch to bring him down to size!

I then had a little run in with some old neighbours. I feel like I'm on Desperate Housewives whenever I walk down my street: everyone is so weird and bitchy. Anyway, I ran into my high pitched, pasty little plague of a neighbour Mitchell (I don't need to worry about him seeing this, I don't think he knows how to turn lights on let alone a computer). He's going to be stalking me during this journey…. Fun! *rolls eyes*

I also ran into that little tart Chloe Carmichael. She was filming for that reality show, and looked like a hippie had thrown up on her dress. I wanted to move on and get passed her and two cast members (some guys called Damian and Lachlan), however, I found the smug little creature challenging me to a battle. And who am I to refuse such a glorious opportunity to kick her Thighmaster-crafted behind?

We battled at the Viridian Trainer House. The receptionist's smile nearly blinded me and it looked about as real as the breasts on a supermodel. Anyway, I managed to get a battle with Miss Priss, while her producer (who I swear must have a whole tree shoved where the sun don't shine) watched on with the deadliest look I've ever soon.

Note to all readers: Never take on an experienced flying type with a grass type you got five minutes earlier -_-

As you can imagine, the battle lasted less than a minute. It didn't take long for Paige to wipe the floor with her Bulbasaur, leaving every in the room looking like they'd been kicked in the stomach. I felt so pleased as I walked out of the building that I felt like I'd just sniffed some white and powdery behind the bike shed. But it was a natural high (this girlfriend only inhaled the sweet smell of victory) and I couldn't help grinning and nearly dancing. I had defeated Chloe at her own game, and I highly doubted she'd want to rechallenge me any time soon :D

Than came the sad part: leaving home.

It quick but painful, liking riping of a bandaid…. A bandaid you've known for 13 years and has grown attached to you (that actually happened to a girl at our school…. Let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight.) I did feel sad as I waved goodbye to my mother and little brother, but it is a necessary sacrifice, as we all know. I wondered when I would see them again, wondered if the pain would ever go away….

It did after like half an hour, when the pain in my heart was replaced by the pain in my legs.

Let me tell you all this: walking along a twisting, turning, sloping route isn't as fun as you may be led to believe.

My knees were close to buckling as I strutted through Route 2, blasting back other Pidgey and Rattata with help from Paige and Darwin. But as the clock ticked on and the sun got higher into the sky, my joy about going on my journey began to evaporate: I had blisters on my blisters, several cuts from some rather spiky hedges I passed, and got so annoyed I simply yelled at a Rattata to go away.

And the trainers… my god these people are irritating!

I've had about five battles with these n00by trainers, and they collectively probably lasted two minutes. They were all little boys, around eight to eleven, and they only brought out Rattata's and Caterpie. Their tight shorts were hitched up so high that I couldn't help wonder about the future of reproduction, and the boys who classified themselves as "Bug Catchers" had such huge nets sticking out of their camouflage bags that they must have been overcompensating for something…. ;)

After Paige and Darwin defeated their Pokemon in one or two moves each, they would turn and run away crying, and I didn't feel guilty at all. I'm not a heartless bitch (most of the time), but if can't complain if you have terrible Pokemon! I just hope that I could avoid some of these trainers as I venture into the tall and daunting Viridian Forest. I would take a Mew on if someone produced it: I just need a good battle!

Well, its getting late and I need to go find some miracle cure for blisters on the internet. Ciao for darlings.

Alaska A.


	8. Interlude 1: Evil

**Interlude One: Evil's Brewing **

Silph Co., Saffron City

The sun was setting over the region of Kanto, emitting a mixture of colours: warm yellows, light oranges, rich pinks and purples, all these colours being scattered across the skies. It was truly one of the most beautiful parts of the day, and many people were now turning their heads towards the horizon, watching as the sun disappeared for another day.

One of these men was Buzz Bolton.

Bolton was staring at the sunset from his floor-to-ceiling windows in his top floor apartment at Silph Co. Headquarters. The different coloured light cast different colours across the plain white walls, lighting up the number of photographs and diplomas that adorned them. Asides from two leather couches and a small flax plant that had been a gift from his mother, Buzz had failed to decorate his room well. He'd been meaning too, but when he wasn't controlling the entire Silph Co. media empire, he always got lost staring into the fiery sun, remembering his purpose for being here.

Buzz was not his real name, though no one knew what it was. His parents had long since passed away not too soon after giving him the pot plant, and he had lost contact with his siblings, making it easier to assume his new persona. He had gelled black hair that was cut by a professional stylist, wore immaculate suits that were tailor made specifically for him, and his buff bronzed skin had was tanned not by the sun he spent so much time staring at, but by a local tanning salon only a few streets away. Buzz was average height so his fit body didn't come across as intimidating, but his electric blue eyes were commonly said to be the source of his producing powers: the media commonly joked about the fact they could hypnotize people to do his bidding.

_If only they actually could, _Buzz thought as he recalled this common quote. _Hypnotizing would make this all a lot easier. _Buzz continued to stare out of the window, and eventually he stood up and walked across his beautiful velvet carpet, pausing on a rug made out of Persian skin that was in between the couches. He was captivated by the sun: what looked like such a small object was one of the most powerful, dangerous forces in their universe, one thing Buzz hoped to be some day.

His evening ritual was interrupted as his phone began ringing. His secretary, Annie, always went home at five' o'clock, so his calls went straight to his phone. Buzz knew who it was though, and he pulled a universal remote out of his pocket and put the phone to loudspeaker.

"Sunsets are always a beautiful thing," Buzz called in his booming, movie announcer voice. "It is that one point of the day where everything is calm and peaceful, in between a hectic day and the bustling night. "

"Yes Mr Bolton, I have heard it all before." Amanda Anderson's voice replied briskly. "I didn't call to hear about the sun for the five hundredth time, I wanted to know if you saw the footage." Buzz simply chuckled to himself and stepped backwards. He pointed the remote at the rug, which rolled up into neatly with a loud clang, and revealed a rectangular box underneath. It mainly contained a large touch screen computer, which was now rising up on it's hydraulic arm, but it also contained other objects: several key cards, a rolled up blueprint, several handguns and stun grenades, CDs and a charred metal sign.

"Of course I saw the footage, it is my job to watch what you film." Buzz said with a smirk, but he quickly tapped away at the computer until a video file came up. The lights went out automatically, and the window was suddenly transformed into a movie screen. The amazing setting sun was replaced with a still image of Alaska, Paige, Chloe and her Bulbasaur.

"If you have seen the footage, than I hoped you are as worried as I am." Amanda said.

"Worried? I'm not worried in the slightest," Buzz said calmly as the video began playing on mute. "This Alaska girl is a rather talented battler, it's a pity we didn't get her on the show."

"What!" Amanda snapped. "She is threatening our plans: she and Miss Carmichael have some old girly feud between them, and this battle would have made it worse. Chloe will most likely want to battle her again if their paths cross, and-"

"There's your answer: make sure the girl doesn't get involved with the show." Buzz replied, beginning to sound rather irritated. "We need this plan to work, and having our lot embarrassed by some stranger isn't going to be a good image."

"What do you want me to do if she does come across us somehow?" Amanda asked quietly, expecting Buzz to shout back at her. But the executive paused for a moment, pondering over what she had said.

"We can't kill her yet, that would raise too many questions, especially if the cast finds out about it." Buzz replied thoughtfully and calmly. "If we meet her again, just ignore her and move on. But if you keeps getting in the way, than you know what to do." He knew Amanda would have nodded at this, and the call suddenly went dead. Buzz continued to watch the battle for a few more minutes, replaying every order Alaska gave, every move Paige did. Alaska was doing this like it was natural, and seemed to be having laugh.

"It's a pity she may have to die." Buzz said solemnly, and he cut the video feed. With his call to Amanda done with, Buzz stared at the sun one last time before walking out of his office and heading home.

Five Island

It had been six years since the dramatic explosion on Five Island, but it had been just five years since police had given up on the investigation. Arthur Reynolds had retired, and the Sevii Islands Police Department were no closer to solving who caused the explosion than when they stared, so the case left with the aged police officer. The area was cleared, the warehouse torn down and a new housing complex was built there instead. Now, in 2013, it was as if the explosion had never happened.

But one part of the warehouse had remained.

The Team Rocket Scientist Gideon was still inside his little bomb shelter. When he heard through the internet that the warehouse would be bulldozed, the scientist quickly covered his tile with a mound of earth, continuing to hide him inside. None of the new houses were built over his complex, though he believed some a garden was nearby based on the small children running overhead.

Gideon didn't look like his 2007 self anymore. His had to cut his hair himself, and it had gone from smooth and gelled to prickly and greasy, resembling a toddler had cut it and washed it with tar. He covered in sweat, filth and ash, his clothes smelt like sewage and he was the same weight of an twelve year old boy instead of a nearly middle aged man. But the bomb shelter was the best place for him: it allowed him to hide from the police still hunting old Team Rocket members, it had a variety of scientific supplies he required and was the best possible workplace.

For seven years, Gideon had been working on Operation Lavender. Masses of papers covered everywhere, every row full of diagrams, numbers, calculations, hand drawn maps and long lists and explanations. He destroyed benches, a kettle, his cell phone and the spare metal bed in order to make a large evolution inducing machine, the strange black and purple disc attached to the very top in front of a light bulb. Gideon had forced his Magneton and Porygon2 to evolve, turning them into a Magnezone and Porygon-Z respectively. Now, Gideon was closer than ever to perfecting Giovanni's master plans and combining them into one huge idea.

"All I need is to get the fossils and the Old Amber…." Gideon mumbled to himself as he ran over his different papers, grabbing different things and checking multiple lists. "Yes, and I need these chemicals…. and a more suitable metal… and I need to go to the source itself…." Gideon had slowly turned more and more mentally unstable over the years he'd spent trapped and alone. His master plan could be ready in only a number of weeks, possibly within a month if he was lucky. However, one key factor was only just dawning on him.

He needed to go outside.

"Go outside…. I never thought I would have too…." Gideon mumbled aloud, pausing for a second from his rummaging. "It makes sense, I don't have everything here…." Gideon stared at the patch where the old tile had once been. He had put some metal wire there to cover up the fake patch of earth, and it was the only thing between him and the outside. He hadn't felt the cool feel of the wind, the warmness that came from the sun or interacted with another human being for years.

"I must, it is the only way…." Gideon said, and he quickly grabbed a pair of sunglasses that he had been using to shield his eyes from bright lights during his experiments. He pulled three Rocket Balls out: ball PokeBalls with a red button in the middle and a red R on the top of the ball. He threw all of them, and three Pokemon formed out of the dark energy. One of them was Electrode, Gideon's oldest surviving Pokemon. It use to be very hyperactive, but it learnt to behave itself and remained still, smiling up at its trainer.

The other Pokemon weren't as normal.

Magnezone and Porygon-Z had turned… well, evil, following their forced evolutions. Magnezone was pure lack with a large red eye, resembling a squashed Rocket Ball, with dark yellow sparks shooting all across his murky body. Porygon-Z pink body had turned a dark, flowing purple, with his turquoise bits now a dark black. His eyes were also red, and papers began to rise into the air ominously around him. These two Pokemon were flowing with power, a single attack could be enough to kill a man. That was why they were Gideon's greatest weapons.

"Ok, this is how we are going to do things," Gideon explained, walking around them as he grabbed some of the more important papers. "Electrode and Porygon-Z will come with me to collect some supplies. Magnezone will stay here and produce electricity to keep this place going." Magnezone nodded, and he moved silently over towards the machine holding the strange disc. He touched it with one of his magnets, and within seconds the lights were flickering and the television turned on and off. "Excellent! Now, let's go!" Gideon didn't care that it was a rather impulsive thing to do, as it was a necessary thing to do in his quest to take over Kanto. He raced over towards the hatch, Electrode rolling and Porygon-Z floating behind him. There were the distant shouts of children playing above them, and a sick smile came across Gideon's face: it had been too long since he had last killed a human being, and he waiting to watch the pain and suffering commence.

"Electrode blast the hatch," Gideon ordered, and then turned maliciously towards Porygon-Z. "Use Tri Attack as soon as we get out: kill anything that moves." Porygon-Z nodded silently, and they watched as the hole was destroyed by a single Thunderbolt. There were the screams of the children, and than Porygon-Z floated silently up like a ninja, but he was twice as deadly….


	9. Chapter 5: Falling Through Autumn

**Chapter Five: Falling Through Autumn **

Beautiful forest scenery couldn't distract Alaska from how bloody bored she was.

It had been three days since her blog post, and Alaska had not had a single good battle since then. The newcomer trainer had left the dullness of Route 2 and had now ventured into Viridian Forest, the first real challenge for trainers from her neck of the woods.

Alaska did have to admit it was a purely gorgeous place to be in. Huge collections of tall, towering trees stretched high into the sky, packed so close together that their leaves blocked out the sky, casting a beauteous green glow over the leafy path. The trees were all different sizes with different sorts of leaves and branches, and Alaska was enjoying herself by examining each tree individually as she moved through. There were large fields of knee-tickling grass that made for a mini voyage in order to get throw, especially with the abundance of bug type Pokemon around.

"I swear, if I ever see another buggered bug Pokemon again, I'm going to scream!" Alaska had shrieked to Paige and Darwin the previous night. Every single grassy field contained a bug type Pokemon: either the green and cream Caterpie that insisted on tying Alaska's legs together with String Shot, or the amber coloured Weedle that instead choose to jab its sharp white horn into her legs as she passed. If that wasn't bad enough, there were only bug types to battle in battles as well: Alaska had defeated about a dozen Bug Catchers over the past three days, and had gone from getting a sadistic pleasure out of winning to wishing she could jab a tree branch through her eyeball. Alaska wasn't a boastful, proud person, but she just wanted to lose at least one battle: she probably shouldn't have started her journey with a flying Pokemon when she was in Bug Central.

So Alaska didn't have high hopes for the day after she packed up her tent, which she had positioned next to a mossy green boulder. The tent was helping her get through the nights, as she had her laptop with her that allowed connect with the world outside of the trees. Apparently _Indigo Dreams _was getting very hyped up and thousands of people were excited for it. Alaska was irritated that the reality show was gaining so much popularity, though she was amused when several fan polls showed that people were more interested to see Damian than Chloe.

_I'd like to see that smug tart try and cross me again after that battles of ours! _Alaska had thought bitterly after reading the poll results. While she didn't get a kick out of beating Youngsters, Alaska was looking forward to next time she got to cut Chloe down to size.

So after packing away her tent and other supplies, Alaska had no choice but to keep travelling through Viridian Forest: if she wanted to find better trainers and reach Pewter City, home of her first badge challenge, she would have to push on through the petty trainers. There were two choices for Alaska to go through today: one path led through a brisk, clear path to the right, whilst one with long, entangled grass stood to the left.

"What do you think we should do?" Alaska said to Darwin, who she was spending some time training. The Mankey examined the two paths quickly, and then let out a screech and dived straight into the grassy route.

"Really?" Alaska groaned, watching several hard shelled Kakuna that were adorning the nearby trees.

"Mankey Man!" The Fighting type called, scratching around the grass, hoping to find a good opponent. Alaska smirked and headed after her Pokemon, though she didn't have high hopes for this area. Her feet were instantly disguised by the long grass, which was stretching far towards her knees. A small group of Caterpie and a lone Weedle skirted away as Alaska passed, and the new coming trainer was desperate to get close to Darwin. She hated being alone in grass: Pokemon could attack any person that came into their habitat, wheter they had a Pokemon on them or not, and Alaska didn't want to find herself getting attacked.

"Darwin, slow down!" Alaska shouted, struggling to keep the weight of her bag and move through the grass at the same time. Darwin was slashing at the grass with his Fury Swipes, sending blades of grass flying into the sky. The Mankey was always looking for a fight, and Alaska had hopes that she could control the outrageous behavioural aspect of his. She was just about to tell him off when Darwin suddenly froze, his fists high in the air as if they were suspended there. Alaska came to a halt too, stunned by the sudden halt to his activities.

"Darwin, are you alright?" She asked nervously, taking a nervous step forwards. However, she didn't notice the branch beneath her feet: her shoe landed on it, causing the entire thing to snap. The noise echoed everywhere, and Alaska gasped as Darwin turned dramatically towards her, eyes bulged out in shock.

"Pika?" A soft voice said, and suddenly a yellow figure rose up from the grass. Alaska had seen the Pokemon regularly on television, and was able to identify the long ears, the brown stripes on its back and a long, jagged tail: it was the Electric Mouse Pikachu, a very rare Pokemon in these parts of Kanto. It seemed Darwin had noticed it and had been waiting to strike, which Alaska had unfortunately failed.

"MAAAAN!" The Mankey shouted angrily, and the Pikachu looked startled. Darwin leapt forwards, his claws glowing and ready to slash down. But before he could get close, the Pikachu began to glow white as it shut its eyes in terror. A white-yellow blur suddenly sped off into the trees, and Darwin crashed onto the earthy floor in a heap. Alaska gasped again and rushed forwards, nearly tripping over a Metapod that was camouflaged by the grass.

"Darwin, are you alright?" Alaska asked, flopping down into the grass besides him. The Mankey nodded his fluffy head, a sad, defeated look on his face, one that Alaska knew she had probably pulled lately. Paige and Darwin both wanted better opponents to battle, neither of them satisfied with their battles either and equally desiring a good match.

"Don't worry!" Alaska said in a cheery tone, giving Darwin a big hug. "We're nearly out of here, and then we can have some good opponents!" Darwin nodded, and he wrapped a long arm around her. They were all getting a bit tired of Viridian Forest, and Alaska barely even noticed how much her desperation was softening her up. The two sat there for a little while, watching a flock of Pidgey flying through the tree tops above them. Some human voices sounded nearby, and Darwin's head turned towards the noise excitedly. Alaska laughed and stood up, allowing Darwin to bounce around and begin climbing the next tree.

"Calm down!" She called, struggling not to laugh at how excited he was getting. "It's not like a great battler is just going to appear out of nowhere like this!" Alaska joked.

However, she didn't realise how wrong she was.

There was a sudden snapping noise above her, but Alaska barely paid any attention to it, thinking it was just a Pokemon. But than her interest was piked by a sudden loud screaming: Alaska looked up just as a figure burst through the leaves above her, arms flailing, hair wrapped around her face and coming straight for her.


	10. Chapter 6: Sandy in the Forest

**Chapter Six: Sandy in the Forest**

Alaska didn't have any time to react: the screaming figure was coming straight for her, unable to control where she was going to land. Alaska only had a few seconds before impact, watching the wide eyed, feminine face coming flying towards her, along with shades of yellow and purple, and only one thought crossed her mind: _Shit._

The figure smashed into Alaska, who tried to turn and flee. The trainer too let out a cry as she was sent flying face forwards, the grass soaring up to meet her, several Caterpie fleeing for their lives as she got closer. The weight of the girl was already causing Alaska great pain, and was glad she at least had her backpack on to soften the pain.

With a body shaking thud, Alaska smashed into the muddy ground. Her head whacked against the muddy floor, sending shooting pains right through her skull. The figure remained sprawled on Alaska's back, forcing her to stay down on the ground, almost rubbing her head in the mud. Alaska let out a soft moan of pain, her back feeling like it had just shattered in two. She could barely feel her legs, and Alaska couldn't help but wonder, like most people in this situation, if she would walk again.

_This is soooo painful… definitely the most pain I've ever felt… _Alaska thought, trying to push her hands into the ground to lift her up. There was a shift in the weight on her back, accompanied by grunts and moans, and than sudden silence… the sort of silence right before something bad happens…  
"OOOOH MY GOOOOD!" Someone screamed loudly, sending Pidgey's flying into the air.

_Alright, make that second most painful. _Alaska winced as she felt her eardrums scream in protest, the shrill cry seeming to echo inside. However, the weight on her back dramatically lessened, and Alaska let out a great 'oomph' of relief.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" The voice continued to wail, and Alaska could hear the person running around on the spot, clearly frantic at the idea of possibly paralysing someone. Alaska wanted to get up and wring her neck to make her shut up, but was more focused on actually standing up first: now that the weight was off her back, she could feel her legs again. Alaska pushed her hands and arms hard on the ground, sending shooting pains through her body, and managed to lift her body up off the ground.

"Excellent!" Alaska said with joy, and did her best to ignore the pain that was stabbing her back like knives and tried to get firmly to her feet. As she struggled with what should be a simple process, Alaska noticed it was suddenly quiet: the person who had landed on her was no longer wailing, and seemed to have frozen like a creature sensing its hunter.

"I AM SOOOOOO SORRY!" The return of noise struck Alaska like a cannonball, and she had barely stood up straight before a pair of arms were

wrapped around her, tightly squeezing on her already sore back. Alaska could feel her ribs being squeezed as well, and didn't no anyone could hug so hard.  
"It's fine, I barely feel a thing." Alaska hissed through gritted teeth, fairly disgusted at the amount of hugging that was going on. She flexed her arms, signalling to let go, and the girl let go and moved backwards, looking very timid and nervous. Alaska could now see that the yellow she had seen before had been the girl's hair: it seemed to be a mixture of blonde and brunette, reminding Alaska of the beaches near Pallet Town.

"My name is Alexandra Samson, but everyone just calls me Sandy, cause of my hair." The girl said quietly, crouched as if expecting to be hit or shouted at. Alaska thought this was odd, and began to examine the girl more closely. Sandy looked around Alaska's age, and was roughly the same height and weight. Her skin looked almost pinkish, giving her a bubbly, young sort of look. Alaska also realised what the purple had been: Sandy was wearing a violent dress with silver white trimming, looking dazzling amongst the green and brown and almost as soft as silk. It flowed elegantly down to her feet, almost covering her purple and white trainers. A dark green satchel bag had fallen off when she fell, and Sandy was now cautiously picking it up. Whilst the dress was very pretty, Alaska was more interested in who this Sandy was, and why she had landed on her.

"I'm Alaska Acevedo, started my journey only a few days ago." Alaska said, doing her best to try and stare down at someone who was the same height as you. Sandy looked petrified, her bright green eyes wide in shock. "May I ask why you were up in a tree?" Alaska asked, and began to walk around Sandy, almost as if interrogating her.

"I'm a new trainer as well: I only started my journey last week!" Sandy replied nervously, trying to force a smile upon her face. "I'm not use to being out on my own, and I let my Butterfree out to stretch her wings, not knowing what was in here. There was a strong gust of wind, and she disappeared up in those branches. I couldn't bring her back into her PokeBall, so I decided to climb the tree to investigate." Sandy finished explaining, and she smiled rather nervously.  
"You climbed a tree… in that dress?" Alaska asked curiously. She stared up at the tree: the branches weren't particularly sturdy either, definitely not able to hold up a human.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Sandy shrugged. "I didn't expect the branches to be so… brittle, I guess. Oh well, it was a rather fun experience!"

"Not for me," Alaska growled, and Sandy's face went pinker as she blushed with embarrassment. The two stood in silence, not sure what to say to each other: Alaska would like to move on, yet she felt as if there was something being hidden from her. She was about to ask something else, when the sound of a twig snapping sounded around them. Sandy looked petrified, turning around as if expecting to see an axe murderer hiding behind the trees.

"Don't worry, it's probably just a Pokemon." Alaska said, looking around for the source of the noise.

She didn't expect the source to come flying at them.

A cream coloured blur leapt suddenly out of one of the trees, shooting towards them like a rocket. Sandy let out a scream, and Alaska realised the blur was heading straight towards her. Without thinking, Alaska leapt forwards in front of the almost stranger, ready to take the full brunt of whatever this was. She wasn't sure why she was doing it, but it seemed like the right thing to do. And moving made her realise something: the blur was in fact a Mankey.  
"Darwin!" Alaska gasped, and she stuck her arms out to block the Pokemon. Her Mankey smacked straight into her, causing her sore back and head even more pain as her entire body was shuddered. But Darwin didn't stop there: practically ignoring his trainer, he tried to leap over towards Sandy, his claws glowing.

"MAN MAN MAN!" He screeched, and Sandy leapt backwards in fright.

"Darwin, what do you think your doing?" Alaska scolded, trying to grab the squirming Mankey and hold him still. Darwin ignored her, continuing to screech 'MAN' and try and get to Sandy. "Why are you so angry at her, what did she do to you?" Alaska snapped, and a wave of realisation came over her. "Are you angry at her because she landed on me?" Darwin paused for a moment and stared at Alaska, realising he had been caught out.

"Mankey Man Man." He replied huffily, and glared angrily at Sandy over her shoulder.

"It's alright, I'm not that annoyed with her." Alaska chuckled, and Sandy let out an awkward laugh as she backed nervously away. Darwin relaxed now, but he still stared angrily at Sandy as Alaska put him down. She was feeling much better now: it seemed Sandy felt even more guilty now, and it had been good to see how much her Pokemon cared for her. Besides, Alaska wasn't the sort of person to deny having her ego stroked.

"Why don't you climb up here and look for Butterfree?" Alaska suggested. Darwin, who was still looking like he'd like to hit Sandy, nodded, and leapt towards the tree Sandy had just fallen from.

"Y-you really mean it?" Sandy appeared at Alaska's side as Darwin disappeared through the leaves. "You're not annoyed with me?" Alaska had only said that to please Darwin, not wanting him to attack the girl, but she shrugged and nodded.

"I guess so: I don't feel sore anymore and I'm not the sort to hold grudges… well, I do hold _plenty _of grudges, but that's besides the point! I don't have a grudge with _you_." Alaska finished with a nod, satisfied with the answer. Sandy froze for a second, letting the words wash over her, and suddenly let out a scream of delight.

"Oh my god, that's so awesome of you!" She screeched, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. Before Alaska could react, Sandy rushed forwards and hugged her once again. She was beaming brightly and her sad eyes were now wide and cheerful. Alaska felt another pang of pain in her back, and wanted nothing more than to push Sandy far away from her.

"I'm so glad you're not upset: I can't handle it when people are mad with me!" Sandy giggled excitedly, and leapt backwards in a dance-like motion. Alaska just smiled and nodded, struggling not to make some catty remark about how she'd much like to throw something at her.

Alaska was saved by a sudden, thunderous snapping sound: a huge tree branch from the tree Darwin had gone up was sent flying above their heads, and Sandy let out a scream and jumped into a hug with Alaska, avoiding the branch as it crashed into the ground behind her.  
"What's going on?" She wailed, as Alaska subtly moved her foot out from under Sandy's.

"I think I have an idea…" Alaska mumbled grouchily, and her suspicions were confirmed moments later: Darwin appeared out of the green, his long arms wrapped tightly around something as he swirled around in mid-air. The mixed ball of blurred colours was heading fast towards the ground, causing Sandy to scream once more.

"Fr… Terrr….. Fr…." As Alaska whipped out Darwin's PokeBall to bring him back, a grunt came from the direction of the Mankey, but Alaska knew it couldn't be him: there was only one possible Pokemon, and knew this wouldn't end well for Darwin.

"FREEEEE!" A burst of wind suddenly came from the blur, and Darwin was sent flying as the Gust sent leaves flying into the sky. Alaska shoved Sandy, who was screamed once again, out of the way and grabbed hold of Darwin as he came past, the force nearly sending her rolling backwards.

"MANKEY MAN MAN MAN!" Darwin wailed, flailing his limbs around as he tried to free himself. High above them, Sandy's Butterfree glared down at Darwin as the sun reflected beautifully off her wings: Alaska temporarily forgot about her fidgeting Pokemon as she became lost in this truly beautiful sight, the shimmering silver-white light almost lighting up the area.

"Butterfreeeee Freeeee!" Butterfree called down in a dazzlingly sweet voice, but her huge pink, bug-like eyes were glaring down at Darwin, clearly not too happy with being attacked.

"I think you… need to… calm … down!" Alaska grunted, struggling to get control of Darwin long enough to bring him back: finally, after nearly two minutes, she was finally able to twist the PokeBall around and bring him back inside. She paused, panting from the effort to control him.

"He seems a bit… violent." Sandy said nervously. Her Butterfree had floated down, and the two were still embraced in their hug. Alaska simply nodded, her mind racing: why had Darwin acted that way? Was he really that angry with Sandy he lashed out at her Pokemon? Or maybe, like Alaska, he was also getting bored of the forest… it Alaska want to get out of this green and brown prison even quicker, desperate to find some decent trainers.

"I'd better find a Pokemon Center, get him checked out." Alaska said, and grabbed her black bag up from the ground, everything ready for her to head off.

"Oh, of course, I understand." Sandy said, not able to keep the sadness out of her voice. Alaska had been ready to head off but paused, surprised to hear how upset she was. Her Butterfree looked rather upset as well, and Alaska figured they must have the same problem with finding good trainers.

"Well…" Alaska said through an irritated sigh: she knew she'd regret this delay later, but she felt rather bad about running off like this. "We could have a quick battle before you go, if you want…" Sandy's emotions changed as if a switch had been flicked: her eyes and smile lit up again, and she and Butterfree exchanged big beams.

"That would be soooo perfect, I've been _dying _to find a good trainer for _ages_!" Sandy said quickly, and she and Butterfree moved further down the field they were in, jabbering delightedly away. Alaska simply smiled as she pulled Paige's PokeBall out and put the bag down: having another battle wouldn't be too bad, especially as Paige would now be up against a fully evolved Pokemon!

It would make the win that much greater.


	11. Chapter 7: A Battle of Wits and Wing

**Chapter Seven: ****A Battle of Wits and Wings**

A strong gust of wind had started over the past few minutes, but Alaska and Sandy hadn't noticed it in the drama that had unfolded. But now it made their battle setting even more dramatic: the trees whistled and creaked ominously, whilst leaves, blades of grass and sticks went flying across the field they had created. The grass was rippling softly, but this battle was taking place in the air, and Alaska was ready for it. She could imagine dramatic music playing in the background, a sort of hard rock anthem her father use to listen to, turning their friendly battle into a violent, near deadly match.

"Ooooh, this wind is very dramatic, isn't it?" Sandy said as she clutched at her dress, and Alaska scowled and grouchily rolled her yes.

"Well it was a moment ago! By pointing it out, you've killed it!" She sighed, and Sandy and Butterfree exchanged a rather sad look. "The moment's ruined, let's just get on with it! GO PAIGE!" Alaska shouted, and threw the PokeBall into the sky. Butterfree floated forwards as the red energy quickly formed together, and Alaska's Pidgey appeared, instantly glaring towards her new opponent and ready to battle. Alaska felt a tinge of excitement as the tense scene reformed, the two flying types glaring across at each other: finally, a battle that could actually be a challenge!

"I'll kick things off!" She shouted. "Quick Attack go!" Paige nodded, and suddenly shot forwards at an alarming speed. Sandy didn't look worried though, simply watching as Paige sped forwards with beady eyes.

"PoisonPowder as soon as she hits you," She called out, much calmer than Alaska. Alaska was rather surprised that she was still using her usual airy nature for battling: she had hoped to see a much tougher, stronger side to her now. Instead, the two watched as Paige smashed into Butterfree, who flapped her wings furiously to stop herself from flying backwards. The silvery white wings suddenly turned a rich purple, and with a single waving motion, purple particles were released.

"Pidge!" Paige squawked as the particles landed on her feathers before she could get away. Her entire body glowed purple, and she fell several feet through the air, recovering just in time to avoid colliding with the ground.

"Poisoning…" Alaska mumbled bitterly. "Clever move." Sandy simply smiled back, and Paige angrily flew back into the air, flapping her wings furiously to show her anger. Alaska wanted to win even more now, and only had a few moves left to do so.

"Gust!" She shouted.

"Confusion," Sandy called back. Paige flapped her wings vigorously, and the strong wind flowing through the forest was sent crashing directly into Butterfree, battering her with airborne leaves and sticks.

"Free Free!" Butterfree whimpered as she spiralled around, and fluttered her wings to hold herself in place. Than she stared fixatedly at Paige, her large eyes glowing an eerie pink. Alaska wondered what was going on when Paige was suddenly sent flying backwards, nearly crashing into her. As she halted herself and glowed the poisonous purple, Alaska noticed that was moving in a rather odd manner, cross eyed and grinning stupidly.

"Poisoned and confused," Alaska growled at Sandy, though she couldn't help but smile as well. "You sure know your statuses, don't you?" And Sandy simply giggled and winked, and Butterfree did so too. Alaska was even more desperate to win now and triumph over these two setbacks.

"Sand Attack!" She cried.

"You use your Gust!" Sandy said. Paige dived towards the ground, a determined look in her eye, and Alaska thought for a second that she was conquering the confusion already. But Paige didn't pull up from the dive: Alaska shut her eyes as her Pidgey smashed into the ground with a sickening thud. Butterfree smiled as she flapped her eyes, causing a strong burst of wind that rival that of Paige's. Alaska watched as Paige was sent spiralling into the air, wailing loudly with displeasure at the treatment.

"QUICK ATTACK!" Alaska shouted, beginning to get worried about her fate, and smiled as Paige burst free of the gust and smashed straight into Butterfree's head. The two went crashing towards the ground, and Sandy gasped in shock as Butterfree crash landed in the same spot Paige had.

"Gust again!" She wailed. Butterfree rose up, looking pained, and flapped her wings quickly, but Paige easily soared above the wind, smiling down at the Butterfly Pokemon.

"That'll be Tangled Feet," Alaska called out with a smile. "When confused, it's much easier for Paige to evade attacks even if she may hurt herself sometimes!" Sandy was looking rather shocked now, and Alaska was glad to have the upper hand again. "Steel Wing, NOW!"

"Confusion!" Sandy said, and clutched her dark green satchel worriedly.

"Pidge Pidge!" Paige chirped, and flew forwards with a glowing silver wing. Butterfree continued to rise up, still looking pained, but she swerved as soon as Paige approached, leading to the Tiny Bird Pokemon to crash into a tree at the edge. Butterfree's eyes glowed pink again, and Paige shot backwards, smashing into the ground.

"Butterfree's Compoundeyes might just counteract Tangled Feet," Sandy said, breathing deeply and looking rather faint. "This is really getting intense, isn't it?" Alaska merely grunted back, and watched as Paige rose slowly from the grass: it was quite clear she was close to fainting, with bent wings and a flustered look to her wings. Despite Sandy's apparent excitement about the thrilling match, Alaska knew it was coming close to ending. Butterfree was looking equally as sore, and both Pokemon were moving their wings with a lot less power and anger than they had before. The next move would decide the match, and Alaska could see Sandy had worked this out as well: it was time to end it.

"Gust!" Both girls exclaimed at the same time. Paige and Butterfree acted instantly and simultaneously: both gave a powerful flap of their wings, and two bursts of wind went hurtling towards each other. The effect was too be expected: the opposite forces collided, releasing a cold, windy shock wave that sent both Pokemon twisting around in a spiral. Alaska cried out as her red shirt and jeans fluttered, and Sandy had to clutch her dress frantically to stop it shooting up. It was impossible to tell who was going to win.

Than, with a single movement, it was over.

Alaska and Sandy watched as the wind suddenly faded, leaving things very still, very quiet and very dramatic. For a moment, Paige and Butterfree remained airborne, looking strange as they simply hovered there. Than the two Pokemon tipped backwards, hurtling back through the leaves and branches, falling dramatically towards them. Alaska couldn't contain herself, and she rushed forwards, catching Paige before she hit the ground. There was an 'oomph' from besides her, and it was clear Sandy had saved Butterfree as well.

There was silence asides from heavy breathing for a moment. Alaska looked down and saw that Paige had fainted: she was squirming in a feeble manner, giving Alaska a rather grouchy look as if it was her fault Butterfree had used those moves, but still hadn't fainted. Alaska was glad her best friend hadn't been too badly injured, and she pulled a Potion and an Antidote out of her bag.

"MY GOSH that was exciting!" Sandy boomed from next to her, and Alaska shot her a look as she sprayed Paige with the healing liquids. Sandy was doing the same to Butterfree, and was wearing her same cheery smile. "That was SUCH an exciting battle, I can't believe how much fun it was! I'm surprised my socks haven't been blown off," and she let out a loud, carrying laugh. Alaska was agitated about her irritating loudness, but did have to agree it had been her most exciting battle since she had started her journey.

"Thanks for that, I did enjoy it," Alaska said once she had drained the two bottles: Paige fluttered up into the air, flexing her wings and fluttering around Butterfree, who remained more calm and sensible than her feathered rival.

"I really look forward to battling you again!" Sandy said, smiling and nodding. "And hopefully it won't be a draw next time!" Alaska nodded, and put her arm out for Paige to land on, finally feeling like her battling needs were satisfied. However, Paige didn't land. Confused, Alaska looked up and saw Paige was staring directly overhead, moving her wings slowly and with a glare in her eyes.

"Paige, what's wrong?" Alaska asked, and turned her head slowly.

She felt like she'd been slapped.

Chloe Carmichael was standing directly behind her, today wearing a bright blue blouse and a denim skirt. She was wearing her usual smirk, the wind tossing her hair around and making her look very model like. Damian and Lachlan were standing behind her, staring at Alaska and Sandy but not with the same vigour and anger that Chloe had in her eyes.

"What do you want?" Alaska hissed, ignoring Sandy as she peered around her. Her blood was beginning to boil, and could feel her elation about the great battle seeping away as Chloe continued to stand there, her nasty little smile making Alaska want to scream.

"I still haven't gotten over that loss," Chloe replied, her voice fill with acid despite her smile, and pulled a PokeBall out of her pocket. "I hope your Raticate with wings hasn't had too much of a hard time: I want my revenge, and I want it now!"


	12. Chapter 8: Best Served Double Course

**Chapter Eight: Revenge is Best Served in a Double Course**

Alaska rose an eyebrow, and a sceptical look appeared on her face as silence fell between them, broken only by the fluttering of Paige's wings as she continued to hover overhead, ready to strike at the next opportunity. Alaska simply stared into her mortal enemies face, wondering what motivation she had for wanting a rematch: the last one was so quick and embarrassing that it was curious as too why she wanted to go down the same path again.

"So, are you going to battle me or not?" Chloe snapped, brandishing the PokeBall around. "You're not scared, are you?" She added with a smirk.

"Me, scared?" Alaska scoffed and burst out laughing. "Don't be so stupid… oh wait, then you'd have to die, wouldn't you?" She finished in a slow voice, and Chloe's eyes widened in shock at the jibe. Paige twittered next to Alaska's head, finally landing as the two exchanged a wing-to-hand high five, and Chloe glared towards her until another laugh sounded behind her: Lachlan quickly stifled it, but not before Chloe shot him a threatening look. Alaska laughed, and was rather glad to see Chloe's plan to best her was failing. As her nemesis looked back around, Damian glanced over at Alaska, who saw her laughing, and smiled and gave her a wink. Alaska was rather surprised about this, especially as she felt a sensation occur in her stomach that seemed to rush through her body.

"I have a new Pokemon now," Chloe explained quickly, with the air of trying to cover up what had just happened. "and I've got more experience now through the show! I want Bulbasaur to take you on again, you and that weird thing you call a Pokemon, so he knows what a great Pokemon he is!"

"PIDGEY PIDGE!" Paige squawked angrily and soared off Alaska's shoulder, diving straight towards Chloe's chest. Alaska quickly grabbed and restrained her, though it was a rather difficult job as she got smacked in the face with an angry wing, having to spit the feathers out.

"Your Pidgey is very funny!" Alaska turned, and had literally forgotten Sandy was there: the blonde girl was chortling to herself, whilst Butterfree giggled into her miniscule hands along side.

"And who are you, exactly?" Chloe hissed rudely, still clutching her PokeBall as if she was about to throw it. Sandy stopped laughing, and Alaska thought for a moment she had been offended. However, she was left rather surprised as Sandy walked determinedly forwards, her happy face turning to a cross between a snarl and a pout.

"My name is Sandy, and I don't like you," She huffed, sounding as if she was talking to a disgusting little animal, but Chloe simply scoffed. Alaska smirked as she continued to restrain Paige, who was now pecking grumpily at her hands, and was rather impressed with how Sandy was staring Chloe down. "If you don't want to battle her Alaska, I'd gladly take on this little madam!" Sandy added in a slightly vicious tone.

"EXCUSE ME!" Chloe bellowed, her jaw dropping comically as Alaska let go of Paige, doubling over and roaring with laughter. Paige didn't attack Chloe though: she was laughing as well, and collapsed to the grassy ground as she emitted squawk-like chuckles. Behind them, Damian and Lachlan were failing to stifle their giggles, and Chloe let out an angry growl as she stared around at all those laughing at her.

"I'll take you both on!" She shouted, and raised her PokeBall as if ti was a grenade, but Alaska ignored her, trying hard not to join Paige on the ground.

"Chloe, you can't take two of them on!" Damian said as he stepped forwards, managing to keep his smirk under control.

"You'd get smashed," Lachlan said rather bluntly, not doing as good of a job. "If you want to battle so badly, I'd gladly join you. That is," He added, glancing at the other two girls, "if these two want to, of course." Alaska stopped laughing and stood up straight, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. She looked at Paige, who was still chortling as she rose into the sky, and at Sandy, who was having a glaring contest with Chloe. Alaska did want to battle Chloe again: she had gone on this journey because of her and the reality show, and wasn't going to back down from an opportunity to prove herself to them. A tag battle would make victory that much sweeter, double smiting the reality show.

"I'm game if you are," Alaska said to Sandy as Butterfree joined Paige in floating in the sky. Sandy whipped her head around to nod at Alaska, and than turned back to continuing staring at Chloe, accidentally giving Alaska a mouthful of blonde hair. Damian and Lachlan smiled, but Chloe merely bared her pearly white teeth and hissed at them.

"Perfect, I'll go see if the cameramen want to film this," Damian said, and he turned and began walking off, and Alaska was temporarily distracted by the tight fitting jeans and the long sand-coloured hair…

"Pidge!" Paige squawked, whacking Alaska around the head.

"Ow!" Alaska grumbled. "Alright, sorry!" She said, and she and Sandy began to walk backwards, creating the battlefield. Alaska had an idea of how to battle, and gave Sandy a look to show she had a plan. Lachlan and Chloe didn't look like they'd be putting their heads together: Lachlan struggled to extract his PokeBall from his pocket, and Chloe was simply staring viciously at them, and Alaska wondered if she hoped laser beams would shoot out and hit the pair.

"I don't have time to wait for cameramen!" Chloe barked, and she threw her PokeBall to the ground: a burst of light later and her Bulbasaur had formed on the grassy plain, looking to the skies and glaring at Paige, who brandished a clenched wing back at him.

"What!" Sandy gasped, looking at Alaska with her more normal gobsmacked expression. "But we need to plan, I can't just go running blindly into this battle!"

"I know," Alaska sighed, shooting Chloe a quick glare. "We'll have to just follow my lead and hope it pays off," and Sandy nodded, looking rather grave.

"AH HA!" Lachlan exclaimed, having finally found his PokeBall, and he threw it to the ground. Bulbasaur glanced over as Squirtle formed, and Alaska noted that it actually looked a bit bigger than it had at the Trainer's House: it had obviously grown more than Bulbasaur had.

"Time to wipe the floor with these fools!" Chloe shouted. "Tackle on Pidgey!"

"We'll use Tackle on Butterfree then!" Lachlan called. Paige and Butterfree reacted instantly, swerving to become back-to-back as Bulbasaur and Squirtle soared past them, tackling right into the ground instead of hitting them, rolling through the grass and stopping a metre away from Alaska's feet. Alaska was quick to look at the situation: Chloe and Lachlan weren't working together properly, same the same moves but on different opponents. The two were weaker than Paige and Butterfree, one who had been training for several years and one was fully evolved. In order to win, Alaska would have to counter their strategy with proper teamwork.

"Use Gust!" Alaska cried. "You use it too!" She whispered to Sandy.

"Gust as well," Sandy mimicked, "on..." She continued, but Alaska shook her head. Both flying types flapped their wings furiously, and their combined usage unleashed a powerful burst of wind: it struck Bulbasaur and Squirtle as they lay in a heap, causing the two to be blasted apart to opposite trees.

"You wanted to separate them, nice job!" Sandy said with a smile, and Alaska mockingly curtseyed as she smiled back: she knew what to do now, and would have won the match by the end of the next move.

"Now, you use a bug move on Bulbasaur, and just trust what I do next," she explained, and Sandy nodded in agreement. Chloe looked furious, and Lachlan simply looked shocked at the swift separation. Alaska smirked: if they thought that shocking, they hadn't seen anything yet."

"Bug Bite on Bulbasaur!" Sandy called.

"Use Gust on Butterfree!" Alaska shouted, and Sandy gasped, looking thunderstruck. "I told you, trust me!" Alaska reassured, hoping herself her plan worked, and Sandy nodded nervously.

"Turning on your teammates?" Chloe laughed, now looking livid with excitement. "Well, I don't think that strategy is going to work very well: Vine Whip on Butterfree!"

"Errr…" Lachlan mumbled, thrown off by Alaska's strategy. "Bubble on Pidgey!" Alaska simply smiled, knowing they'd be too late. Butterfree was already moving, diving towards Bulbasaur with her mouth glowing lime green.

"Pidgey Pidgey Pidge!" Paige exclaimed and flapped her wings quickly: the wind struck Butterfree, and her eyes bulged as she suddenly sped up due to the strong burst striking her wings. Sandy and Chloe gasped as Butterfree rocketed towards Bulbasaur before he could even get his vine fully out.

"Freeee!" She yelled, and smashed into his head due to the force of the Gust. The strong wind was enough to lift the two up, and as the loose Vine Whip came around Butterfree chomped down onto it.

"BULB!" Bulbasaur yelled as Butterfree spun and tossed him towards a tree. Chloe watched as Bulbasaur smacked into the trunk and landed unconscious at the bottom, his vine lying pathetically alongside. Alaska's face lit up with delight, and Sandy clutched her chest, breathing a sigh of relief: they were so happy they didn't notice Squirtle firing a series of Bubbles at Paige, who merely glared down at the blue turtle.

"That was a brilliant strategy!" Sandy squealed.

"Of course it was," Alaska said with a smile, and looked towards their opponents, eagerly awaiting their shock and horror: Chloe's jaw had dropped to nearly below her neck, not bothering to bring Bulbasaur back, simply staring at him with a look liked she just been punched.

"Squirtle… um… use…." Lachlan was thrown off by his team-mates defeat, and his cheeky attitude had failed him as he tried to think of a counter attack. "Water Pulse!" He said at last, clearly trying to use the most powerful move Squirtle could use.

"Water Pulse, interesting…" Alaska murmured: she hadn't expected Squirtle to know a move like this, though she figured the reality stars got Technical Machines as prizes for whatever they did when she wasn't defeating them.

"SQUIRT!" Squirtle bellowed as loudly as he could, and a ball of water that had formed in his mouth seemingly shattered, the cry releasing shock waves of water that soared into the sky, with no clear target in sight.

"Butterfree needs to destroy the pulse somehow," Alaska explained. Sandy nodded, determined as Alaska was to end this battle now.

"Confusion on the Water Pulse, sent it back to Squirtle!" She shouted, and Alaska beamed in approval at this strategy, leaving things open for her to end it.

"Paige, use Steel Wing as soon as the Water Pulse hits him!" She ordered.

"Freee!" Butterfree cried, her eyes flashing pink. The pulses instantly dispelled, turning from circular rings into large droplets that went careering back to Squirtle. As soon as they struck, covering him in water, Paige's wings glowed a shining silver and shot towards Squirtle, Lachlan's jaw dropping in shock.

"PIDGE!" Paige yelled as she smashed into the water starters stomach.

"SQUIRTLE!" He wailed in pain and spun through the air, smacking into a tree opposite from Bulbasaur and landing unconscious on the forest floor: the battle was over.

"YES!" Alaska shouted, leaping up in joy. Sandy let out a squeal of delight and wrapped her arms around Alaska, who didn't bother to shake her off: once again she had defeated Chloe, bringing the reality stars down to size, and her elation was unstoppable.

"That was brilliant!" Sandy said excitedly, letting go and hugging Butterfree instead, dancing around, and Alaska wondered how many battles her partner had won. But the thought left her as Paige fluttered down, smiling widely and happily.  
"You were amazing, that last Steel Wing was perfect!" Alaska praised.

"Pidgey Pidge!" Paige called back, and Alaska smiled warmly. The four of them glanced towards their opponents, hoping for good reactions: Lachlan sighed as he brought Squirtle back, but Chloe looked furious, glaring between her PokeBall containing the unconscious Bulbasaur and Alaska and Sandy, who exchanged beams.

"This isn't over!" Chloe hissed, clutching the ball like a grenade.

"Really," Alaska said curiously, "because the Pokemon aren't fighting anymore: that usually means the battle's finished: Chloe made a growling sound as Sandy laughed and made to lunge forwards, but Lachlan grabbed her arm.

"I feel so good right now, I can't help it!" Sandy giggled quietly and Alaska laughed.

"Don't worry about it: joy is a wondrous feeling, especially after bringing a bitch down to size!" Alaska laughed loudly, and Chloe let out an angry scream as Paige and Butterfree laughed. Alaska didn't care as Chloe charged forwards: she had won against two of the reality stars, and her elation couldn't be stopped. But as Chloe got near her, a furious look on her face and a hand raised, a yell suddenly echoed around them. All six of them froze, looking around for the source of the noise: it had been loud and full of fear, and they could clearly tell it had been a male.

"Damian!" Lachlan gasped, and Alaska's happiness quickly faded: she was not close to either Damian or Lachlan, having only met them twice, but the fear-stricken yell was worrying in this enclosed environment, and Alaska didn't want to think what would have caused him to cry out like that.

"Butterfree, use your Compoundeyes to try and find him!" Sandy cried out, clearly as worried about the source of the noise as Alaska was. Butterfree nodded, and her eyes glowed slightly as she revolved in mid air, staring around in the direction the noise had come from. Everyone was watching her now, even Chloe, who had forgotten all about being angry in the sudden fear that they were in.

"Free Free!" Butterfree exclaimed after nearly two minutes, and she suddenly shot forwards through the trees. The four humans and Paige rushed after, sending Caterpie and Weedle fleeing as they raced after the Butterfly Pokemon. Alaska hadn't ventured off the path during her past few days in the forest: the trees were actually very close together, with thick trees combined with large roots and multiple bushes making running all the more difficult. They eventually had to run in a single file, with Paige overtaking them to follow after Butterfree.

"Why would Damian have come in this far?" Chloe sobbed. Alaska didn't want to answer, and focused on getting between two thick oaks, coming out into a large clearing. It was perfectly circular, as if an artist had planted the trees to make the even round shape. There were no trees in the middle, but their branches and leaves extended so far that only a tiny beam of light shone in the middle. The other three got through the oaks, and they all stared around curiously: there was no sign of Damian here.

"Free Butterfree!" Butterfree called from above, and was pointing downwards with her wing: a small black bag was lying right next to a large dark space in the ground. Alaska took a nervous step forwards and glanced into the space: it was a giant hole, the first few feet being illuminated by the little sunlight, before descending deep into the earth. Long vines were growing up the sides, and a combination of clicking and buzzing was sounding from below.

"It's Damian's bag!" Chloe yelled, picking it up and looking shocked. Alaska and Sandy exchanged horrified looks, agreeing on the only possible option for what had happened to Damian.

"And look there!" Lachlan spluttered, his eyes wide with shock. Everyone turned, looking away from the bag and the hole and instead to something white lying in the grass a few feet away. Alaska was closest and picked it up: a white shoe, not big enough to fit Damian, but despite some specks of mud it clearly had only been here recently.

"Someone else could be down there…" Alaska mumbled, and she lifted up the shoes tongue, wondering if there was some identification. A name was indeed on there, but a shiver went down Alaska's spine as she read it, dark thoughts rushing through her mind about what could be there, and what was happening to the person whose name was written neatly across the shoe.

Mitchell Melton.


	13. Chapter 9: That Buzzing Feeling

**Chapter Nine: ****That Buzzing Feeling**

A feeling of cold emptiness began to spread through Alaska as she examined the white shoe in her hands. Mitchell was down the hole, Mitchell was possibly injured, or kidnapped, or dead. Yes, Alaska hadn't liked him very much, and quite a few times when he had been ruining her nights she had considered stringing up to the roof and beating him like a piñata, but she couldn't do that to him if he was dead… it would be less fun without him squealing in pain.

"I have a frien – acquaint – I know this nice little – oh, I just know this guy!" Alaska said, holding up the shoe as she failed to find words to describe her relationship with Mitchell. "It seems that both he and Damian have gone down this hole, possibly together, and we need to get them out of there, now!" As she spoke, Alaska glanced into the hole: it seemed to stretch on for about a kilometre or two, with no sign of where the bottom lay. "What have you got me into this time Mitchell…"

"I don't give a Rattata's ass about getting your friend out!" Chloe squawked hysterically, and snatched the shoe from her hand. "Mitchell Melton? MITCHELL BLOODY MELTON! He's a little prick, why the hell do you want to save him!" She shrieked and threw the shoe away. Paige soared over and grabbed it, glared angrily at Chloe and then spun, sending it flying back towards her. She screeched and leapt backwards, whacking Lachlan in the nose as she did so.

"Mitchell may be annoying, but I've known him a hell of a lot longer that Damian, alright?" Alaska snapped. "If we're going to save a friend of yours, I don't see any issue with saving a … person of mine as well!" The two teenagers glared angrily at each other, and Alaska was trying hard not to slap her across the face. She had been pissed off, angry, annoyed, sometimes even furiously envious of Chloe before, but Alaska had never been this mad at how selfish and arrogant she was until now. As they stood there with sliceable tension between them, a timid cough sounded to the side.

"It's all very nice and well that you want to save these two boys," Sandy said quietly, twirling her hair through her fingers, "but how _do_ you plan to save them?" Alaska's wanted to keep glaring at Chloe, imagining her falling down the hole and getting trapped, but she knew that Sandy had a fair point: there was no point arguing when they had no idea what they were going to do.

"I'll try calling out to them and see if we get any response!" Lachlan suggested, and stood over the hole. "OI, DAMIAN! YOU DOWN THERE?" He shouted. Everyone bent over the hole to listen, but the strange clicking and buzzing only seemed to get louder. "They could be unconscious," Lachlan said miserably.

"Or dead!" Chloe squealed, and Alaska couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Don't be so melodramatic and jump to the worst conclusion!" She snapped. "What we need to do is to go down into the hole and see if we can find the two of them and work out how to get them back up."

"Wonderful plan Alaska, but as your friend pointed out," Chloe hissed, glaring over at Sandy who looked rather affronted,  
"how the hell are we going to get down there?" Again, Alaska was left without an answer, but Sandy suddenly stepped forwards. She was given Chloe the same nasty look she had given her earlier, and Lachlan stifled a smirk at Chloe's stunned look. The blonde haired girl walked up to the edge of the hole, Butterfree flying softly behind her, and grabbed something: a think green vine, one of many that was dangling down.

"If madam doesn't mind getting her hands a bit dirty," Sandy said in such an acidic tone that Alaska and Paige couldn't help but exchange smirks, "we could quite easily climb down these vines." Alaska and Lachlan examined several others, and saw that there were indeed very thick and seemed to be coming out of the earth, so they should support their weights.

"Alright then team," Alaska boomed, and Chloe shot her an unnecessarily angry look, "we'll each take one vine and begin to descend. If something bad happens, just cross your fingers and hope you land on the last person whose vine snapped." Chloe's eyes bulged, and Alaska winked at Paige in pleasure before dropping her legs into the hole. It definitely was very dark down there, and Alaska hoped that they would be able to come to a safe landing in the unknown bottom they couldn't see.

"Race you to the bottom!" Lachlan called, and Alaska was surprised to see he already had both arms and legs wrapped around a vine and was shimmying his way down the natural rope. Sandy let out a hysterical giggle and began to descend her vine as well, Butterfree following above her.

"Come on Paige, we'd better get a move on!" Alaska called, and her Pidgey twittered excitedly, swooping down and nearly whacking Chloe on the head. Alaska smirked as she swung around, quickly wrapping her arms and legs around her vine. It felt both tough and flexible at the same time, and Alaska was temporarily put off the idea of climbing down a piece of nature into a large black hole. Sandy and Lachlan were already moving rather rapidly down, and clearly their vines were able to support them up.

"You'd better catch me," Alaska warned Paige, and began to move down.

"Pidgey Pidge," Paige said with an eyeroll, and Alaska gave her a joking glare. The vine felt weird to touch, but Alaska was able to grip onto it firmly, and was beginning to slowly descend down into the hole. The only main issue was that she kept whacking into the wall, tearing a hole in her jean legs.

"What is wrong with this thing?" Alaska grumbled as she was continuously whacked into the earthy wall. She looked up and felt her blood boil once more, the answer right above her head: Chloe was on her vine, descending down like a rock climber pushing off from the wall. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Alaska shouted up, and Chloe glared down at her, though her features were undistinguishable due to the dimming light.

"I don't want to climb down vines, these things are unstable and I don't have a harness!" Chloe shouted back. "If it breaks and snaps, I will feel comfortable enough knowing I'm landing on you!"

"Go on your own vine you stupid bitch!" Alaska hissed, and Paige twittered angrily. Chloe simply ignored her and continued to descend, and Alaska wanted to climb back up and throw her off. Instead, she did the only thing that came into her mind: she grabbed the vine and began to swing it. Chloe screamed as she swung violently through the air.

"STOP IT!" She wailed, still trying to descend as she swung.

"Than get off my vine then!" Alaska shouted back. Chloe just continued to scream, and Alaska swung it again. The whole vine was shaking now, and dirt was beginning to sprinkle down onto Alaska's face. She brushed it off, but felt a slight rumbling in the earth as she swung the vine again.

"Uh oh…" Alaska mumbled. There was a loud snap that echoed inside the hole, and Alaska's body lurched as she suddenly tipped backwards into the darkness. Chloe screamed, Paige cried out, and Alaska couldn't help but yell as she fell rapidly down the hole. She was moving around instead of going in a straight line, and a fourth screaming voice was getting closer. Alaska simply shut her eyes and braced for impact as she smashed into Sandy, and heard another yell signalling that Lachlan had joined the falling bodies. All four of them were falling and screaming, and Alaska felt for Sandy's hand: if she was going to die, she wanted to die besides the only friendly person in this hole.

CRUNCH

With a body shuddering thud, the four of them all landed onto something that was reasonably soft, but the long fall and impact made it feel a lot harder. Alaska groaned, and for the second time that day she felt someone on top of her. There were other grunts and moans from around her, and Alaska opened her eyes to find she wasn't in complete darkness, but it was indeed very dim.

"Is everyone alright?" Sandy asked from nearby, and Alaska could feel their hands were still interlocked and she smiled, reassured by some companionship. Everyone mumbled they were fine, though Chloe and Lachlan sounded very sour.

"So, climbing down vines… not the best plan," Alaska said jokingly, and Sandy sighed.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," she replied, and Chloe scoffed a few feet away.

"Well next time, don't suggest anything until it is a great plan, alright?" The blonde hissed. "But I think Alaska has some of the blame here, as she caused us all to fall down here, didn't she?"

"You shouldn't have gotten on my vine then!" Alaska shouted back, getting to her feet. It seemed they had landed on more vines, judging by what she was standing on, and could see an outline of Chloe's features in the little light they had. "Don't start anything Chloe, we're down here for a reason."

"Oh, walking away from a disagreement, real brave!" Chloe hissed. Alaska turned angrily towards her, a fast raised in her fury and was ready to strike, willing to fight Chloe like she had been dying too for so long. But just as Alaska began to swing, Lachlan suddenly cried out, and all heads turned. Alaska wanted to know why she was being interrupted, but her anger was suddenly replaced with fear that crawled through her entire body in a second. The strange buzzing sound they heard from above was now obvious, and their fate, as well as Damian and Mitchell's, was uncertain.

A group of Beedrill were right there.

'Group' seemed like an understatement. There was about one hundred Beedrill standing before them, their white stingers raised like swords. Chloe and Sandy both let out frightened whimpers, and Alaska couldn't help but feel dread and unease creep through her body as the Beedrill began to march forwards. The light in the cave was getting brighter, illuminating not only all hundred of the angry Beedrill, but dozens and dozens of Weedle crawling across the walls, and a large number of Kakuna settled into the wall like very strange ornaments. The light revealed holes like bunkers set into the walls, some leading to a network of tunnels, others simple nesting places that Weedle were gathering in.

"Beedrill Bee! Beedrill Bee!" The Beedrill all buzzed angrily, and began to walk forwards, the front two rows with their stingers raised. Chloe screamed and clung to Lachlan for support, but Lachlan was standing solid and unmoving, his eyes wide with fear and shock. Alaska looked around desperately and saw Paige and Butterfree were still hovering above them all, looking down in fear as well. They caught her eye, and Paige went to move but Alaska shook her head and mouthed 'Don't move yet' up at them. Paige looked surprised, but nodded and stayed airborne around the vines.

"AAAAH!" Alaska whipped her head around in time to see Chloe flying backwards. She was about to ask what had done it when suddenly three of the front Beedrill fired what was unmistakably a String Shot at Lachlan. He was thrown backwards by the force, and Alaska wanted to see where he landed, but instead felt something hard but sticky hit her in the middle. She surprised how forceful it was, and flew backwards and whacked into a wall a few metres away. It was yet another painful blow to her already sore back, and Alaska instantly tried to pull away from the sticky string: it held as if it was made from metal, and Alaska's arms simply began to hurt as Sandy was thrown to the wall next to her, screaming loudly.

"It's going to be an even longer day than it already has, won't it?" Alaska sighed, and was forced to give up trying to fight the String Shot. Someone laughed next to her, and Alaska quickly looked to her left: Damian was stuck to the wall next to her, dirty faced and clothes torn, but was flashing his perfect smile.

"Just be glad the Beedrill haven't roughed you around, they gave and Mitch here a real warm welcome, didn't they?" He explained, and Alaska inclined her head more to see her old neighbour. Mitchell was smiling widely and looked rather happy about the whole experience, more so than Chloe who was now crying her eyes out.

"Hey Alaska, we must have missed each other back in Viridian!" Mitchell said quickly. "But it's good to see you again, do you have any awesome Pokemon yet? I've only caught a Rattata and a Weedle so far, but my Weedle is close to evolving, I can't –"

"Nice to see you too Mitchell," Alaska sighed and leaned back against the wall. Damian laughed again, and Alaska couldn't help but smile as well. "He's my old neighbour –"

"I'm well aware of that," Damian chuckled quietly. "He was running to try and find you when his shoe came off and he slipped in the grass and fell down here. I heard him scream and climbed down one of the vines like you guys tried, and found him injured and tried to treat him but the Beedrill attacked us. He's been keeping me entertained for the last hour."

"You haven't been down here a hour, you left us at the battle about twenty minutes ago," Alaska explained, laughing.

"Any time with him seems twice as long," Damian replied, and Alaska couldn't help but laugh and nod. She looked towards Sandy, willing to offer her words of support, but the blonde haired girl had her eyes shut and was muttering something quickly under her breathe and Alaska decided not to disturb her. Instead she looked straight towards the large mass of Beedrill before her. They were all standing in perfect rows with their stingers raised, reminding Alaska of soldiers in an army. She was rather scared about what the Beedrill would do to them next: the light they seemed to be creating was lighting up another large circular section of this passage, it's only main feature being a particularly large hole in the wall.

"I don't know what their going to do to us, but I really don't want to stick around any longer to find out," Damian whispered, all laughter gone from his voice, and Alaska nodded solemnly. "I've been pulling my arms free and my right arm is rather loose, I think I could –" but Damian paused there as something changed within the tunnel. A loud rumbling, thudding sound was echoing around them, and Alaska could place it's occurrence in only one place: the largest hole in the wall. The Beedrill began to buzz excitedly, and many more Weedle crawled out of their holes like spectators to watch what was happening. Something big was coming out for them, and Alaska didn't want to be around for it. Fear was enclosing her like a disease, but Alaska couldn't help but let it consume her. She was going to die at the hands of whatever was coming out for them. She would never be able to get any badges, never post any blog entry, never battling with Paige or Darwin again, never see the faces of her mother, her father, Freddie, the twins…

"Freddie…" Alaska whispered, and she felt Sandy and Damian's eyes turn to her.

"Whose Freddie?" Sandy asked, but Alaska ignored her: the fear was beginning to leave her now, as excitement quickly filled her body up.

"Damian, use your right hand and opened my bag up and feel for a plastic bag," Alaska said, and Damian nodded and managed to extract his right arm from the String Shot unnoticed due to the Beedrill staring towards the hole instead of them.

"When you get the plastic bag, feel around inside for a knife, and then we can cut the String Shot open."

"Is there a reason you carry a knife with you?" Damian asked, and Alaska simply smiled, remembering as she took a knife usually used to cut ropes from a bug catcher she defeated, and would have used it if she was ever hungry enough to try Fredrick's brownies. She went to tell the story, but the rumbling was suddenly deafening. All six of their eyes turned towards the hole as a loud screech echoed out of it, and the creature that lived within walked into the open…


	14. Chapter 10: Get out of the Hole

**Chapter Ten: If You Can't Handle the Heat, Get out of the Hole **

For a split second, Alaska thought she had entered some sort of horror movie. Her father was a big fan of classic movies, and the horror genre had been one of his favourites. Alaska was old enough now not to be scared of them, but as a child the monstrous and oversized Pokemon and mutated human beings that rampaged through towns her haunted her nightmares for many years. Many movies had involved the horrific creature emerging dramatically out of or from behind something, appearing before a loud crowd of people that would scream and run in terror as it began to obliterate them.

But this was a much different scenario. The army of Beedrill were staring towards the emerging beast silently, but it was clear that they were excited about what would happen next. The only people horrified about what would happen were currently all stuck to a wall, bugs trapped in a web and were about to be eaten. Damian was trying to cut through Alaska's String Shot, but he was too nervous about the beast that was emerging.

The rumbling was causing the ground-ceiling (Alaska wasn't quite sure what to call the dirt above her head) to shake, sending dust cascading down upon them. The creature was now walking forwards into the light, letting out a roar that sounded purely monstrous.

Now it seemed like a movie scene: Alaska was staring at a creature that was a purely nightmarish version of the Beedrill in front of them. It wasn't normal sized at all; about three times her height with pink eyes that began to glow brilliantly and ghostly. The two poisonous points that normal Beedrill had were now the size of trees, shining in a sleek, metallic way that made them look even shaper and deadlier.

"We're dead…" Alaska said, unable to take her eyes off the creature as it moved forwards. "There is no way out of this… we're bloody Beedrill food now." The gigantic Beedrill wasn't looking properly towards them, simply staring at the following of Beedrill below it. Horrible mental images of the Beedrill all attacking with their sharp points filled Alaska's head, and she shivered as she tried to shake them off.

"Alaska, we won't be dead if you pull your head in!" Alaska looked around, snapping out of her horrific day dream to face Damian. He was smiling a reassuring and gentle smile, and Alaska was surprised to find herself calming down as she stared at him. She also realised that the String Shot had disappeared from around her stomach.

"Swift man, I like it," Alaska said with a beam, and Damian simply smiled as she took the knife off him and quickly slashed at the String Shot. None of the Weedle, Kakuna or Beedrill seemed to notice two of their prisoners were free now, all eyes focused on the giant Beedrill.

"Ready your Pokemon," Alaska said, and quickly rushed towards Sandy. She was still muttering quickly to herself, eyes jammed shut, and didn't even notice that she was cut free into Alaska pulled her forwards.

"Oh my god Alaska, thank you so much!" Sandy beamed breathlessly, instantly back to her airy self. She went to give Alaska a hug, but she suddenly realised the giant Beedrill and froze, jaw dropped and eyes bulging.

"Your welcome," Alaska said, and turned back around, avoiding staring at the monster as she tried to think a plan. But all six of them were starting trainers, and it would be very difficult for them to defeat all of the normal Beedrill let alone a giant one.

"What are you going to do?" Mitchell asked in a shaky voice as Alaska cut him free.

"No clue," she replied bluntly, and freed Lachlan next to him. He mumbled his thanks, staring in terror towards the giant Beedrill, but Chloe the worst of all of them: she was beginning to cry and was whimpering, curled up in mid air as the string held her up.

"Oh get a grip," Alaska snapped, and Chloe screamed as she fell to the ground.

"A bit of warning would've been appreciated," she hissed.

"You didn't warn me you were coming down my vine!" Alaska snapped back.

"_You're _the one who shook the vine, it's your fault we're going to be mutilated and killed by some giant bug!" Chloe growled. Alaska opened her mouth to retort, and was ready to practically hit Chloe, but Damian appeared between them, looking serious.

"In case you haven't noticed, we are about to be killed by some giant Pokemon," he growled, "and if you two draw attention to us, it'll happen quicker!" Alaska and Chloe remained with their eyes locked in glares for another moment before turning and walking back to the others with Damian. The Beedrill still hadn't noticed their prisoners were wandering free, listening to the buzzing coming from the giant Beedrill as it seemed to be giving them a speech. Alaska was looking around, trying to form a plan for their escape. One thing kept coming back to her, and it seemed to be the only one possible.

"What are we going to do then?" Damian whispered. Mitchell and Sandy didn't seem to him, crouching by the wall and staring at the giant Beedrill and fear and uncertainty. Lachlan was looking rather grumpy, and Chloe was mad as well but appeared to be shaking in fear as well. Alaska was afraid as well, but she knew that they had to and could do something to save themselves.

"If we want to survive, we need to get past all of these Beedrill," Alaska explained. "Once we clear them, we will be able to get towards the middle of the hole and climb back up some vines to safety." The others all stared at her, absorbing in her plan.

"What about the giant one?" Mitchell whispered with eyes wide with fear. Alaska glanced back towards the biggest Beedrill of them all, wondering if her plan for it would actually do anything to save them.

"I have an idea, but I'd rather we got our Pokemon out," she replied, and pulled a PokeBall out of her bag. Darwin the Mankey formed alongside her, flexing his muscles and looking around curiously, and was joined by the familiar figure of Damian's Charmander, his tail flame adding to their light. Alaska was interested to see if Mitchell actually had caught any Pokemon, and was secretly impressed as he released his two Pokemon: the small furry but sharply fanged Rattata, and the golden coloured Weedle that didn't look particularly out of place here. They were both smiling pleasantly at their trainer, and Alaska was glad he had something to entertain himself. Chloe still looked sour, but she released a new Pokemon for her anyway: a Spearow, looking as grumpy as her and rising snobbishly above them all.

"Squirtle's my only Pokemon," Lachlan explained sheepishly, "he's still unconscious."

"I don't know where Butterfree is!" Sandy said, shaking slightly.

"Don't worry, Paige and Butterfree will be helpful in a moment," Alaska replied. "But now you lot," she said to the five Pokemon before her, "we need to clear past all of the Beedrill so we can get to the giant hole. Just use whichever attacks you can and do your best not to get hit with anything!" All the Pokemon nodded, looking eager to battle and defend their trainer's. Damian was passing around something, and Alaska was intrigued as she was passed a large grey rock.

"I guess they could come in handy, if we need to defend ourselves," Damian explained. Alaska beamed and held the rock tightly in one hand, keeping her knife firmly in her other one.

"Brilliant idea! Alright team, let's go!" Alaska said, and they all nodded and turned.

The Beedrill army was staring at them.

Unbeknownst to them, whilst they had released their Pokemon the giant Beedrill had finished its speech. Its followers were staring at them all, pointers raised, attacks being formed ready to be fired. Alaska knew they were going to have to fight for their lives now. She stared down at Darwin, who nodded up at her.

"BEEEEEE!" The giant Beedrill buzzed in its booming voice. The Beedrill all began to rise up, their collective buzzing almost deafening. Sandy and Mitchell were whimpering, and Chloe was taking a step backwards, but Alaska simply smiled, knowing they had one element on their side.

"DOUBLE GUST!" She screamed, and before the Beedrill could comprehend what she said, they were suddenly sent spinning around. Sandy gasped as Paige and Butterfree zoomed out of the hole, flapping their wings so furiously that the trainers were in danger of being blown away. Damian, Sandy, Mitchell and Lachlan all looked ecstatic, and Alaska beamed with pride at her plan.

"EVERYONE GO!" She screamed, and led the charge forwards. The Beedrill had no idea what was going on, but suddenly they were being attacked from all sides. Paige and Butterfree continued to use their Gust, allowing the Beedrill to stay disorientated as Charmander fired a barrage of Ember attacks to set them on fire, and Rattata rolled up into a ball, burst into flame and sped forwards, taking the Beedrill down with a surprise Flame Wheel. Spearow flew forwards and began Pecking at stray Beedrill until they fainted, and Weedle would use String Shot to simply tie them up. But Darwin was brutal, grabbing Beedrill by the legs, heads and pointer and smashing them into rock, beating them until they fainted.

"MAAAAN!" He screamed, and tackled a Beedrill that was about to hit Alaska and used Seismic Toss to send him spiralling away. Alaska called out her thanks before moving onwards, but the noise of the increasing wind caused by Gust was deafening. Sand was being whipped up around them, and Alaska had to shield her eyes as she charged through the parting Beedrill, not wanting to be blinded. But she could see that the Beedrill's attacks were missing, as the Gust continued to send them around and prevented them from doing anything. Alaska watched happily as a powerful Ember sent one Beedrill soaring backwards, and noticed Damian was running alongside.

"His attacks are very strong, I'm impressed," Alaska shouted over the wind.

"That Gust is what's impressive," Damian replied loudly, "I don't know what is up with Charmander, he hasn't been his powerful before. But your Pidgey seems very…" but Alaska stopped listening, thrown by what he had said: if the powerful Ember wasn't natural, than what was it? Rattata's Flame Wheel seemed extremely strong as it rolled past, and Alaska suddenly realised something, and turned to tell Damian. But she was stunned to see he had frozen in his steps, and Mitchell and Chloe were stopping as well.

"What is it?" Alaska asked, and followed their line of eyesight. Before them a row of Beedrill stood there, stingers raised and ready to fire. Green energy was being absorbed in, and Alaska's theory was confirmed: the light that had been summoned in here was a series of Sunny Day's, a weather attack that boosted fire attacks and made Solarbeam charge up instantly. Alaska should have known they couldn't have broken through all the ranks, and simply stood there in fear as the Beedrill absorbed in more light, the giant Beedrill taking slow but booming steps forwards.

"JUMP!" Damian cried, just as the multiple Solarbeam were fired. He and Alaska landed in a heap as they jumped to the same spot, green light exploding over their heads. Ignoring their collision, Alaska raised her knife up, glad that she hadn't landed on it, and swiped at the nearest two Beedrill.

"Get back!" She growled, circling around as she cut the air. The Beedrill seemed stunned at this weapon and buzzed backwards from Alaska, leading them back towards its fellow Pokemon. The multiple Solarbeam had disrupted the Gust attack, and Paige and Butterfree were now fighting off two and three at a time as they became swamped by them. The other trainers were to the fight and alright, swinging their rocks like Alaska.

"Leave us along!" Sandy squealed, running up to Alaska as she threw her rock at a Beedrill's head. "We really need to get out of here!" She yelled, and turned around to see the Beedrill was only metres away. "Oh damn! Alaska, I'm scared!"

"Don't worry, we'll have this over soon," Alaska replied calmly, though her mind was going at a mile a minute, hoping changes to her plan would work. Damian was leading the others to safety, and the Pokemon were making their way through the Beedrill. Mitchell threw some rocks, sending Beedrill scattering and allowing Paige and Butterfree to fly through. Paige instantly flew to Alaska and hit her with her wing.

"Alright, sorry, but I didn't know we were going to be tied up!" Alaska protested as Paige glared down at her. "But good job reacting, you're a great Pidgey."

"Pidge Pidge," Paige replied, nodding merrily, and Alaska smirked. But she caught Sandy's nervous glare and stared back towards the Beedrill. The ones that hadn't fainted were all regathering, moving back into rows and ignoring their injuries. Green energy was rapidly being absorbed back into their stingers, more Solarbeams about to be fired. If they would be hit, they would probably be knocked out, left at the mercy of the giant Beedrill. Alaska had to act quickly, and knew just what to do.

"Sandy, Butterfree is our only hope," Alaska whispered quickly. Sandy was shaking with fear, but she nodded, understanding what Alaska wanted to do. The Beedrill were buzzing excitedly now, and their Solarbeams were ready. Chloe was crying again, and Mitchell was on the verge, their fates nearly sealed.

"BEEEE!" They all buzzed as they fired.

"CONFUSION!" Sandy boomed determinedly. Alaska braced, ready for the attacks to hit them. The green light was engulfing them, and it seemed as if they had been struck down. But Alaska's plan had worked: Butterfree was faster and more developed, and her eyes were narrowed as they glowed pink, all her Psychic abilities forced towards stopping the Solarbeams. Alaska and Sandy exchanged wide smiles, and the others all cheered slightly at their safety. Alaska wanted to hug Sandy, but the blonde turned back towards Butterfree, and Alaska had a feeling something bad would come from her lips.

"Redirect it towards the ceiling!" Sandy shouted. Butterfree responded before Alaska could shout her protest or stop her, and all she could was gasp and watch in horror: the collective mass of energy smashed into the ground ceiling of the nest. There was an instant rumbling sound, and Alaska grabbed Paige and ran backwards.

"MOVE!" She screamed, but Damian, Mitchell and their Pokemon had already moved. Lachlan pushed Sandy forwards, and Butterfree and Spearow moved behind Chloe. Darwin was glaring up at the giant Beedrill, but Alaska grabbed him with her free hand and kept on running, ignoring the giant Pokemon and trying to ignore the rumbling coming from behind them. The roar was deafening, and a cloud of dust engulfed them, so thick it blocked the light and left them all doubling over coughing, their eyes stinging and throats burning. The uncomfortable combination continued for another minute, but finally the dust began to thin, and they were able to hear deep grumblings instead of the tunnels collapsing with earth.

"Is everyone al-al-alright?" Alaska coughed, looking down to see Paige and Darwin's bodies were completely brown with dirty dust. They replied with 'Pidge' and 'Man', looking a bit grumpy but not to fussed. No one else looked injured as the cloud of dust settled, though everyone was particularly filthy now, and Chloe appeared to seething with fury about it. Alaska turned around to face Sandy, who stood there with wide eyes of shock, her sandy hair now dirty, and stared at Alaska rather blankly.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time…" she mumbled, and stared to face her destruction. The tunnel had been completely destroyed, with huge mounds of earth piled up like discarded rubbish. The hole had now completely doubled in sized, and it was only now that Alaska noted how strange it was that the original hole had been perfectly circular. A disjointed stairway of earth had built up, providing them with a much quicker path to freedom as the mounds managed to reach the top. Alaska looked down at the bottom though and couldn't help but feel sorry for all the Weedle, Kakuna and Beedrill that would have been crushed under the weight.

"What do we do now?" Lachlan coughed, brushing dust off of his clothes.

"Get the hell out of here, duh!" Chloe squeaked, looking as if she has just rolled in mud. Alaska had never seen her this dirty before and stifled a laugh as the blonde ran forwards, dust trailing behind her, as began to clamber desperately up the mounds.

"Chloe, calm down!" Damian called, but Chloe flipped him the finger, and Alaska let her laugh heard as her enemy struggled up the mounds, her Spearow flapping overhead. She turned to share her laugh with Sandy, but her friend was staring upwards, eyes still wide with horror. Alaska looked up as well, wondering what she could be staring at.

Sandy was staring at the giant Beedrill, and the giant Beedrill was staring at them.  
Alaska could understand why the Beedrill was angry as it towered over them looking murderous. All of its follower were dead and its feast was ready to escape its clutches. But that didn't mean she was prepared for what happened next: the creature suddenly smashed the ground with one of it's stingers, causing dust to fall and the vines to shake, and made Sandy leap up and scream.

"RUN!" Alaska shouted, though Mitchell and Lachlan were already sprinting towards the mounds of earth. The Beedrill aimed for Sandy with its other stinger, but she screamed again and fled. Alaska looked around desperately, and was glad that there was now a lot more natural light illuminating the dirty tunnel. She had hoped that her plan wouldn't have to be attempted, but it seemed like she had no other option.

"Run, get out of here!" Alaska bellowed as she sped past Sandy, sidestepping Beedrill and its stingers and heading towards the pile of vines they had landed on. Her plan was insane, but Alaska had always been the sort of person to do crazy plans. She had been the child that leapt out of trees, ran away from school groups as they wandered through woods, and would try to eat anything that came her way. If she gave up her outrageous at this point, Alaska would have been annoyed with herself.

"Pid Pid Pidgey?" Paige chirped as Alaska let go of her, coming to a stop by the vines. Alaska didn't have time to explain, simply grabbing the end of a thick one as Darwin jumped out of her arms and began to pull on it.

"Grab the other end," Alaska called to Darwin, and the Mankey nodded and quickly responded. The vine was thick enough, but Alaska just hoped they would be able to pull it off. She glanced around to see the giant Beedrill was beginning to beat its wings very rapidly, generating a wind that whipped the dust up. Mitchell and Lachlan were getting close to the top, but Sandy and Damian were running around to avoid the stingers, Butterfree and Charmander moving with them.

"Get out of here, it's not safe!" Alaska yelled and ran forwards with the vine.

"What makes it safe for you?" Sandy cried back, before screaming as a stinger knocked her flying. Alaska was shocked, but she couldn't give up her plan now. Damian saw what she doing and gave her the thumbs up before rushing to check on Sandy. Alaska was worried about Sandy, but had to carry on before Beedrill noticed her.

"Darwin, you go that way!" Alaska cried, the roar of the dust and wings nearly deafening.

"Man Mankey!" Darwin responded, and he moved away from Alaska holding the vine. Alaska ran forwards as well, and the vine began to wrap around the Beedrill. Trainer and Pokemon passed each other, and moments later passed again. They had run out of vine, but Alaska and Darwin were now tugging furiously on the long green plant, trying to pull things together. The dust began to settle, and the beating of the wings died down, and Alaska knew they were being caught out.

"Beeeeeedrilllllll," the giant creature growled, and both stingers got raised.

"Keep at it Darwin!" Alaska shouted, still pulling on the vine as tightly as she can. The Beedrill's legs were beginning to buckle, but it didn't look very natural: the legs were literally buckling, dents beginning to form around them. _Pokemon don't get dents usually, especially not bug types… _Alaska thought and came to a stop, staring at the legs with such curiousity she didn't notice the stinger above her head.

"PIIIDGE!"

"EMBER!"

"CONFUSION!"

"BEEEE!"

The combined cries were a shock to the system, and Alaska looked up in fear as she saw the stinger come down. But before it could move an inch, a brown blur smashed into the stinger as it was hit by a ball of fire and was thrust backwards. The stinger suddenly exploded, and Alaska dived out of the way to avoid pieces of metal that were now raining down upon them.

"It's a robot!" She screamed before she had even got to her feet.

"Well obviously!" Damian yelled back. "Ember again!" Alaska got back up as Paige flew down looking concerned. Darwin had leapt forwards, smashing his fists into Beedrill's legs as Charmander fired more fire at the machine, which was beginning to grumble and yell.

"I'm fine Paige, I swear!" Alaska said, giving her a smile as she stared towards the Beedrill. What remained of its left stinger was flaming and sparking, and it seemed to be tilting as Darwin whacked its damaged leg. "I think we need to aim for something, like-"

"Don't do anything."

Alaska squeaked with shock as a voice sounded behind her. It wasn't a familiar voice, and it didn't sound human: it was broken up and distorted, the real voice being disguised behind some sort of machine. A chill went down Alaska's spine, and she wanted to turn and face the person, but couldn't bring herself to. The person speaking seemed unnatural and creepy, like being in a room with a dead person.

"You need to run, now," the voice said. "If you don't, you and your friends and Pokemon will be killed by what I'm about to do to save your lives." Alaska normally would have questioned motives behind saving people that could kill them, but couldn't bring herself to put this together. The person was very commanding, and there wasn't a way to say no.

"Come on guys, let's go!" Alaska shouted, sprinting forwards as she covered her head to avoid sparks from Beedrill. Paige was flying alongside her, looking just as appalled and shocked about everything as she was. Damian and Sandy were stunned to see Alaska ran past them, but they began to sprint up the earthy mounds along with her.

"We need to get out of here now!" Alaska explained, beginning to grab at the next mound and haul herself up. It wasn't quite as easy as it looked, and Alaska's arms were beginning to ache before they even got to halfway. The earth kept crumbling at her feet and hands, making it difficult to get up and move, and Alaska could see Sandy was struggling as well. Damian was making good time though, clearly taking the opportunity to escape with Charmander on his back.

"Shit, Darwin!" Alaska cried, feeling awful as she looked back down. Darwin was still beating at Beedrill, who was now leaning awkwardly due to the damaged leg. "DARWIN, COME ON!" Alaska shouted. Her Mankey glanced around and saw how high up she was, and began to move towards her, looking rather annoyed. Alaska turned her attention back to climbing, and was pleased to see she was nearly at the top, with Sandy a few mounds ahead.

"Quickly Alaska!" Mitchell's high pitched voice squealed, and he pointed behind her. Dreading what she would see, Alaska turned around, out of breath, and saw that Beedrill had his other stinger raised, ready to drive it through her. Alaska wasn't near the top enough to get to freedom, and could feel the ground grumbling, turning against her and leaving her exposed and about to die.

"KEEEY!" Alaska had shut her eyes and was beginning to curse under her breath when something tugged at her, and she opened her eyes as she spun through the air, hitting a screaming Sandy and collapsing to the ground.

"Ah, I love a bit of a payback," Alaska smirked as she got off Sandy's back, and the blonde could only nod as she 'oomphed' painfully. Darwin landed besides her, flexing his muscles, and Paige came down and watched. The Beedrill was roaring and screaming, his wings beginning to beat again as he pointed his stinger towards them. But before he could do anything else, Alaska's eyes caught a jet of flame shooting out from the darkness. She watched as the powerful Flamethrower engulfed Beedrill's body, and it began to roar in pain: the roar was more robotic now though, and the way its body was shaking wasn't natural.

Alaska was about to yell at them all to duck when the body exploded. Chloe, Mitchell and Sandy all screamed as everyone was hit by the shockwave. Yellow and black metal flew around as Beedrill's head disappeared inside a gigantic cloud of orange fire and smoke. More explosions sounded, and soon the pit was rumbling as it was filled by the explosions. With what seemed very casual, the opposite end of the hole collapsed and slid down, burying the flames in earth and grass, and stopping Beedrill with it.

For a moment, Alaska wasn't sure what to make of things. She, Paige and Darwin lay on the ground in a heap, and she gave them a quick hug as she got to her feet, feeling all of the pain she'd suffered that day quite clearly in her bones. Everyone else was getting up as well, and sudden footsteps were joining them.

"What the hell happened here?" The crisp voice of Amanda Anderson called, and Alaska got up as the producer rushed forwards, still looking rather immaculate despite the horrible situation. She was being followed by the same cameraman from before, but was now joined by a rather bulky boom operator, holding the fuzzy microphone above the scene. Amanda looked around at her stars, than Mitchell, than Alaska.

"Ah… I might have known," she said curtly, her plucked eyebrows narrowing. Alaska smiled and faked a curtsey as she stood up.

"Don't mind me, I'll just be on my way," she snapped, pulling her knife out of her pocket and twirling it threateningly in her hands before bagging it.

"Wait Alaska," Sandy and Mitchell said simultaneously, but Alaska had already turned, still holding Paige and Darwin.

"Sorry guys, but I won't to be by myself for a while," she explained. "Thanks for the battle Sandy, I hope we meet again soon. And good luck with your training Mitchell," Alaska said simply, and waved them goodbye. Sandy looked rather shocked and sad, and Alaska felt guilty as she began to head through the trees they had come. Damian looked like he wanted to say something as she passed, but Amanda was shooting them nasty looks as she dialled a number on her phone, and Damian simply turned away. Chloe and Lachlan ignored her, and Alaska simply sighed as she headed for the trees.

Alaska simply wanted to get to Pewter City, but the day's events had surely bothered her. The hole and the tunnels had been so perfectly circular that there was little way they were natural. All the Beedrill seemed to know Sunny Day and Solarbeam, two moves they could only learn through Technical Machines. And most importantly was the robot: how had it gotten there, why was it attacking them, and who was controlling it?

Though she wasn't sure, Alaska was almost certain someone had wanted to attack them. And based on the appearance of the strange voice and the fire, someone wanted to save them. The questions were who and why, and Alaska needed to rest her injuries before she got too in depth. There was only one thing she did know of: something was definitely up in Kanto right now.


	15. Blog 3: Toil and Trouble

**Blog Three: Toil and Trouble**

Greetings once again, my ever eager readers!

I haven't been online for the past few days, and I must say I was thrilled to see how many people have read my blog since I've been gone! I was hoping for a few visitors, but I'm nearly reaching ten thousand hits! Thanks for all the support everyone: it's time to show the Pokemon League you don't need a fancy starter to kick some serious gym leader booty!

I had a very very _very _odd day the other day (Vanessa Backlot levels of odd! Remember that Sinnoh chick from the news? Messed up!). It all started when a lovely girl named Sandy decided to try crushing my head. In her defence, she did fall out of a tree. In my defence, my head still hurts. I think I win :D

Anyway, Sandy turned out to be quite nice, and we had a brilliant little battle that Paige drew against her Butterfree. Girl got some moooves! I was glad to _finally _find a Bug trainer in this forest that doesn't wet themselves every time I order Quick Attack, and the battle was probably one of the best I've had so far!

The oddness meter kicked up a few notches when (drumroll please… no drums? Oh well!) the reality stars showed up! If any of you are in awe of the fact I saw Damian, Chloe and Lachlan, leave my blog now and don't befoul it with your lack of brain cells again. Chloe wanted a rematch after the fact I KICKED HER ASS last time we fought, and Lachlan and Sandy joined in for a ripper of a double battle! By ripper, I mean fizzler, and by double battle, I mean that Bulbasaur and Squirtle got schooled at double the volume! Holla! (I watched a rap video before writing this… pardon my temporary lack of sanity.)

Just as I savoured our victory and laughed at the lol worthy faces Chloe was pulling, _someone _just had to scream and ruin the day! A quick, healthy, knee scaring run through the forest brought us out to a large hole in the middle of a clearing (no pun intended, filthy minds!) I wasn't too fussed about the fact Damian might have fallen down a hole, but than a found a white shoe.

You ever get the feeling when you know you have to do something, even though you REALLY don't want too? Well, that's what happened when I realised the shoe belonged to my little ex neighbour Mitchell. He is the sort of hyperactive little moron who will see a giant hole as some big adventure, so naturally he would have fallen in as well. My mother would kill me if she knew I didn't save him, and I know my momma's got some skills, yo. (Apologies again)

So, I did the incredibly dumb thing of climbing down a vine into a pitch black hole, no idea what was going to happen. Of course, it seemed smart at the time. So did swinging the vine I was climbing down due to the fact Chloe was on it. And I'm sure someone, at some point, thought this bloody hip-hop thing was a smart idea too. Anyway, the vine snapped, and we all managed to get caught up and went tumbling down into a large pile.

It kind of sucks when having someone fall on your head and than fall down a hole doesn't make your day awful.

A herd of Beedrill were waiting for us, and these things were a strange mixture of cult, army and serious stick-up-their-stingers. I must admit, I was a weeee bit frightened by the hoard of stinger wielding Pokemon, and than they went and tied us up in sticky string before I could say 'we come in peace!' Damian and Mitchell were there, so at least we'd fell into the right bug infested, about to be killed hole ;)

So while the others began crying and wetting themselves, I realise that I have a) a knife b) no Paige as she and Butterfree are away and c) something is making a hell of a lot of noise. I use the knife first to free myself, obviously (I'm not _that_ stupid) and begin freeing the others.

But this HUUUUGE skyscraper tall Beedrill comes out at is – I mean **HUUUUUUUGGGGGEEEEEE! **It looked like a horror movie, and I was beginning to seriously freak out at how large and nasty this thing was.  
I didn't go on this journey though to simply wet my pants every time the going gets tough! NO SIR! It was time to fight, and I knew just what to do to defeat this thing.

Everyone is freed, we line up against the Beedrill, our Pokemon all ready, their stingers raised, Chloe still bawling like a baby – and we thrashed them!

Paige and Butterfree pulled a sick use of Gust off, and than we charged through to the other side. I can't really describe the scene, as I was being blinded by dust and deafened by the noise. Yet when we got through to where the big Beedrill was, I don't think we were as scared anymore, as we'd just defeat half the Beedrill.

Than things went wrong.

Butterfree redirected a mass Solarbeam, causing the roof to cave in. The Big Beedrill got a bit annoyed at how we'd just kill all its followers, so we began to get abused. Sandy, Damian and I stayed to fight, and Darwin and I got some vines around it. There was a mass blast of attack, and guess what: the Beedrill was a robot! It began to malfunction after we blew a stinger up, and we were left to run up the hill as the thing exploded behind us.

It's been a few days since then. I've been taking it easy, recooperating from that incident and nursing my injuries. I left the others behind and carried on by myself, preferring to think this over in my own head rather than aloud. Sandy was a nice girl and I hope to see her again. It was good to have a friend for those, what, two hours?

I want your feedback on what happened, as I just can't work things out by myself. It was just such a weird thing to happen. I've been through several forests, and never come across anything quite like this. What do you think happen?  
Do you think the Beedrill lived there already?

Who do you think created it?

Was it maybe sent after us?

I'm heading to Pewter City now: my first gym challenge awaits! I'm going to let this matter settle for a while as I deal with trying to defeat those blasted rock types. Keep your suggestions coming, and I'll try and add some more thoughts next time. Wish me luck: if I don't win this match, this whole journey will be a bit pointless, won't it?

Until next time dearies: avoid those blasted bugs!

Alaska

Word!


	16. Interlude Two: Not that Happy

**Thank you to those who pointed out that "lack of sanity" instead read "lack of insanity." Microsoft Word likes to automatically correct some of my mistakes but not the ones that should be corrected :P The joke has been corrected and I hope you find it funnier :) This bit is short and sweet, but Blog Three was short so I decided to write these together.  
(And if you don't know who Vanessa Backlot is that Alaska mentioned, read "Galactic" ;))**

**Interlude Two: Not that Happy**

Buzz Bolton was not in a good mood.

He was standing by his windows once again, staring out through the sprawling metropolis towards the sun setting into the horizon. He had hoped the beautiful mixtures and shades of colours would calm him down, but Buzz was shocked to find that even one of the most amazing sights in the world couldn't bring his temper down.

His phone began ringing back on his desk, and Buzz raised his universal remote in a way more forceful than normal. The phone gave a sad bleep in the middle of a ring, almost as if it was scared about what Buzz would do.

"Sunsets are always a beautiful thing," Buzz shouted in his booming voice, today mixed heavily with blinding rage. "It is that one point of the day where everything is calm and peaceful, in between a hectic day and the bustling night. " He then turned angrily around to the phone, his tanned face twisted in a rage in anger it wasn't use to. "Pity I'm too pissed off to enjoy it!"

"It isn't my fault the cast found the girl," Amanda Anderson replied, her voice echoing around the room. "I don't have the time to mind those children every god damn minute of every god damn day!"

"YOU'RE THE PRODUCER!" Buzz shouted back. "It's part of your bloody job description!" Amanda didn't respond to this, and Buzz growled and angrily stamped on his Persian rug, the metal beneath it ringing. He took a deep breath and walked towards his desk, remembering his breathing exercises and slowing his heart rate down. A glass of sparkling mineral water was placed next to the phone, and Buzz took a long, soothing drink of it.

"Did you find a replacement trial?"

"Yes: a simple obstacle course."

"Have you removed all traces of the Beedrill?"

"Yes. The remains will be taken to old incinerator and destroyed."

"Has someone cleared the tunnel of all traces of evidence?"

"A team is working on that now."

"Good, very good," Buzz nodded, taking another drink. The Beedrill had been expensive to build, too many questions asked about it, too many people forced to be silenced, and it hadn't served its true purpose. "It is a pity that it went to waste. But at least we can use another one of the robots I had the scientists whip up."

"Would you like to have one brought into Mt Moon?" Amanda asked in a very assistant manner, and Buzz nodded, forgetting that he was talking to a phone. Amanda seemed to notice though, making notes on a pad she had with her. "Won't it seem suspicious to the cast though? I mean, Chloe knows more about celebrities and music than she does about Pokemon, and Lachlan is a tinkering on the edge of a cliff above stupidity, but I think they would notice if they come across a second gigantic robot." Buzz began to laugh, a deep, booming laugh that sound more maniacal than a normal human being would have liked.

"That's the brilliant part, my dear," he explained. "They aren't going to be the ones confronting the being. That darling angel Alaska will be walking through Mt Moon, celebrating her first badge win, getting a lolly, breathing, I don't know, when suddenly something arises in front of her. Alaska will be petrified and appalled to see a second robot and will try to fight it, but there won't be anyone to help her this time. The last thought to go through that pesky brat's head before the life is squeezed out of her will be regret, regret at ever going on this stupid journey!" Buzz hissed, not noticing as the laughter died and was replaced with rage. It was only when the glass he clutched in his hand shattered that Buzz snapped out of his angry mental state, staring down at his bleeding hand furiously.

"I shall make the appropriate calls and have something shipped in," Amanda said, and went to ahng up, but Buzz quickly turned back towards it, his uninjured hand searching for a cloth of some sort.

"Amanda, wait," he called, and he could tell that she had paused. "If Alaska appears again, before you get to Mt Moon, I want you to kill her anyway. Kill her quietly, kill her out of the way, and kill her quickly. Make it look like an accident, suicide, whatever, just make sure she never bothers our doorstep again." Amanda nodded at the other end, and the line bleeped before going dead.

Buzz found a cloth in a drawer on his desk and wrapped it around his palm. He cursed the wound but ignored the glass on the floor, going back towards the window and staring out at the sky, only a hint of orange behind the skyscrapers, the rest of the sky a dull blue. Buzz had never met Alaska, but he very much hated her. She was ruining his television programme, a show he had been planning for several years, one that would bring him a sense of peace no sunset could ever conjure up. He only wanted to hear her name once more in his lifetime, and that would be from Amanda's sweet lips, telling him she was dead.

"I await the day," Buzz whispered to himself, and once more began to laugh, the strange sound echoing around the office. Anyone watching from a surrounding building would see a very tanned, very well dressed man staring at a sunset, blood dripping down his hand onto his carpet, laughing in a way no sane person could understand, and the people watching would definitely be frightened if they knew the horrific reasons why this strange man was laughing.


	17. Chapter 11: Sorta Ready Rock & Roll

**Chapter Eleven: ****Sorta Ready to Rock and Roll**

Alaska had never been so happy to step onto concrete.

After being trapped for nearly a week within the grassy confines of Viridian Forest, Alaska was nearly taken aback as she emerged from the trees and grass onto the familiar stone path. The change in light was rather overwhelming at first, but Alaska was too excited that she didn't care about the fact that she was blinded, and began running along the sturdy path, eyes half shut and no idea where she was going. Alaska just couldn't believe that she had finally left the forest and the mysteries it held, ready to embark on the first major challenge of her quest.

Pewter City looked rather different to Viridian, but Alaska was pleased to find it was a completely overwhelming change. The main road into the city branched off into several, leading to a number of houses of similar design to the ones in Viridian and a number of shops, small offices and apartment buildings only a few stories high. Signs pointed towards the Pokemon Center and Poke Mart, and Alaska was surprised to see some large bare sections of grass, simple places for people to relax in. Alaska was amazed at how everyone managed to seem rather relaxed, and walked through the quiet streets, the cheerful greetings she received much nicer than being attacked or landed on.

Alaska quickly healed her Pokemon, not wanting to waste any time in heading towards her first gym battle, but did feel reassured to be back around technology. The nurse was happy to point Alaska in the right direction, and she quickly headed off towards the Pewter Gym. Alaska felt a bit nervous as she walked through the peaceful streets. Had she trained her Pokemon up enough for this battle? Darwin would be alright, but would Paige be able to cope against the Rock types that the leader, Brock, specialized in? Alaska had to win this match if she wanted to prove the point of her quest, but her stomach was beginning to twist in knots. Alaska was having doubts, and was tempted to turn around and do some emergency training.

But than she saw the gym.

If Alaska hadn't known what type the gym was, she definitely would have known now. About three stories high, the Pewter City Gym could easily be mistaken for a large hill: rounded and circular, large, grey, the building roughed and jagged to resemble a large rock. It was tucked away between trees to keep it out of the way, and had a rather nicely put together rock path that went up to the doors and carried on around the sides of the building.

"Well shit," Alaska said, staring at in horror. The Viridian City Gym was very plain on the outside, and Alaska had never ventured to anywhere with particularly interesting buildings: this piece of modern urban development was breathtakingly fresh for her. Alaska was so amazed at the building that she began to walk forwards, her eyes focused on the building and not on the way ahead, interested to see what was inside.

The doors slid open, and Alaska's jaw dropped.

The inside of the gym was amazing. The lighting was dark towards the back half, but the front half was well lit and looked fantastic. The floor was completely covered with golden yellow sand, giving a beautiful outline to the rest of the gym. The stone pathway continued into the gym, cutting through the sand and heading towards the darkness, large boulders that definitely flanked the sides. A wooden bridge suspended high above, and Alaska turned to see rough stone steps heading up the metal walls, providing a shortcut for anyone wishing to avoid whatever challenge the gym possessed.

"That way ain't for me!" Alaska whispered to herself. She was amazed at the design of the gym, from how high it stretched to wondering what was behind the walls filling up the rest of the rock. But she was here for one reason, and it wasn't to admire the architecture: Alaska had to fight her hardest and win, showing the world that defeating a gym didn't require a starter to happen. Her Pokemon were as ready as they could be, and Alaska knew that she had a decent chance to win.

"Alright you two, let's get going," Alaska whispered, and walked forward towards the soft sand in front, ready for what might happen.

"Stop right there!" A voice suddenly boomed, and Alaska came to a halt, her foot hovering about the sand, wondering who was talking. "That is not normal sand. If you step on it, you will sink straight through and will not make it to your gym battle!" The voice sounded male, but Alaska could hear a definite robotic tinge in the background.

"Whatever you say, electric ghost…," Alaska whispered, taking a step backwards, and began walking backwards down the stone path, looking around for the source of the voice. Maybe it was some sort of way of putting the trainers off, and Alaska simply shrugged, deciding to focus on her battle.  
A Geodude was in her face.

Alaska froze again, staring at the thing in front of her. Geodude's face (which really was most of his body) was only a few inches from her own, his hands clasping onto her shoulders tightly. Alaska glared at Geodude, and Geodude glared at Alaska.

"GEOOO!" He roared, and tilted his head backwards.

"Don't even think of Headbutting me!" Alaska cried, and punched Geodude in the eye. The rock head cried out and let go of her shoulders, collapsing down to the ground. Alaska jumped backwards, but Geodude swung his large hands around, sweeping her legs and knocking her to the floor.

"What do you want?" Alaska growled as she grabbed her bag before it fell into the mysterious sand. The Geodude obviously had some issue with her as it was now climbing up one of the rocks, getting to enough height before violently pushing off. "Damnit," Alaska hissed, and raised her legs up as much as her jeans would allow, lashing out when Geodude got close enough. But Geodude had expected this and grabbed her legs, swinging her around and send her skidding over the stones.

"What sort of bloody gym is this?" Alaska shouted, watching Geodude as he laughed and came soaring forwards. She desperately reached into her bag, grabbing the first two things she could: the long black charging cord for her laptop and the ever unneeded brownies from Freddie.

"When in Pewter, it seems," Alaska shrugged, and swung the brownie case into Geodude's face.

"DUUUUDE!" He roared, flying backwards into one of the rocks. He quickly leapt up, fists clenched as he came back for more. Alaska simply smiled and twirled the cord around once Geodude was near: the Rock Pokemon found his hands bound, unable to move as Alaska held onto the cord tightly. Geodude looked rather shocked as he remained floating in the air, and Alaska simply smiled widely.

"Take that!" Alaska cried, and spun around, letting go of the cord as she did so. Geodude shouted as he went flying through the air, smashing straight into another boulder in a cloud of dust and rocks. Alaska waited a few moments, but then burst into a smile when Geodude didn't emerge.

"Finally, stupid bloody rock head!" Alaska jeered, dancing a little on the spot as she put the brownies back in her bag. "That's what you get when you don't have legs, you –"

"Tut tut, that was quite a pity," a voice said, and for a moment Alaska thought it was the strange computer voice again. But suddenly the lights turned on, and Alaska turned around towards the other half of the gym. A bare field was right behind the boulders, covered with some sand and rocks from various battles but otherwise empty. At the other end, though, a figure was walking forwards, shaking his head.

"Such a shame, I was really looking forwards to a battle," the gym leader Brock sighed. He was wearing a thick brown and orange jacket and green jackets, looking fairly casual for a gym leader. His hair was brown and spiky, the same colour as his skin. Alaska wondered how he could see as it looked as if his eyes were shut, but it was possibly a trick of the light.

"What do you mean 'such as shame'?" Alaska asked, walking towards the field as Brock walked towards here. "I'm here and I'm ready to battle!" Brock simply shook his head, and he pointed towards the boulder. The Geodude lay there unconscious, the cord still bound around his hands. "I defeated the stupid rock thing, didn't I? Do you want me to turn it into a decorative lawn ornament or something before I battle you?"

"No no," Brock chuckled, "I wanted you to battle it. With Pokemon." Alaska stared down at the Geodude and gasped. In her surprise at before confronted, she had completely forgotten about her Pokemon and gone straight into fighting for herself.

"Yes, fighting Pokemon with Pokemon does sound rather logical now that you mention it," Alaska murmured, grabbing her laptop cord and stuffing it back into her bag. She pulled her two PokeBalls out and raised them up for Brock to (somehow) see. "I have my Pokemon, and they are just as ready as I am to battle."

"You only have two?" Brock said in surprise, and Alaska clenched the balls angrily at the tone of his voice. "Most trainers I battle usually have at least a full team, even if they are just Caterpie and Weedle."

"Well, I have a Pidgey and a Mankey: I think that's a lot better than some silly bugs!" Alaska growled, but was annoyed further as Brock began to laugh, his chiselled head tipping backwards as the cruel laughter echoed around.

"A Pi-Pi-Pidgey? You expect to defeat me with just a Pidgey and a Mankey?" Brock snorted, and Alaska was tempted to bash her brownies across his head in a few seconds. "I'm sorry for laughing, but there's no way you are going to defeat me with a team like that! Come back later when you at least have a third Pokemon," and without another word, Brock turned and walked back towards where he had been standing. Alaska simply stared after him with her jaw dropped, her PokeBalls dangerously close to falling out of her hands in her shock. How could he have been so rude to her, for absolutely no reason? There was nothing wrong with her Pokemon, and she had a decent chance at kicking him from here all the way back to Viridian. Alaska's rage was building up, and she began to storm forwards, ready to throw Darwin's PokeBall straight at Brock's smug, laughing head.

"I came here for a gym battle, and I'm not leaving until I get my gym battle!" Alaska shouted, and raised her arm, ready to throw the PokeBall wheter Brock liked it or not. But just as Alaska approached the field, she didn't notice the rocks scattering across the path by Geodude. As Brock turned around, Alaska suddenly stood awkwardly on one. Her entire body wobbled, and Alaska cried out as she fell forwards, a much larger rock right in her path. Not wishing to be impaled, and furious that she would be embarrassed, Alaska turned over to avoid landing.

Unfortunately, she fell into the sand.

**8ES isn't going as quickly as I'd like, and there's a lot of chapters left to go, so I'm going to post three chapters in between stories now unlike the two that its usually been! :D So look forward to finding out what happens next next week, for the start of a very revealing mini arc**


	18. Chapter 12: Follow the Shadows, He Said!

**Chapter Twelve: Follow the Shadows, He Said!**

Alaska couldn't help but cry out as she fell towards the sand. The electronic voice had been vague in his warning, but she knew falling into this wasn't going to be very good. Would it kill her… surely not: if trainers were constantly being killed by quick sand, Alaska had a feeling that the Pokemon League would do something about it. There was only one other option: the sand would lead somewhere.

But than the particles quickly rose up, and Alaska shut her eyes and mouth as she plunged through. She had been expecting it to be hard, but Alaska found herself simply falling through at the same pace as sinking through something slightly congealed. The sand was moving against her body like many tiny hands touching her, and Alaska didn't quite enjoy the feeling all that much.

_If this is what all the other bloody gyms are like, I'm not having a bar of it! _Alaska thought grouchily as the sand managed to sting her ears, creeping into every nook and cranny of her clothes. She clutched tightly onto Darwin's PokeBall, not wanting it to get lost forever amongst the sand. Her body was beginning to roll, the sand somehow spinning her around. Alaska was beginning to feel dizzy and itchy, and wanted nothing more than to climb out of the pit and pushed Brock in to see how he liked it. Her body was beginning to rise up, and Alaska found herself going fasted, the sand beginning to push violently against her. Alaska was desperate to get out of this demented ride, and a few choice words were forming for whoever was waiting on the other end….

With a sudden popping sound, Alaska found the weight lessen off her entire body. In fact, Alaska found that was entirely… weightless. She opened her eyes, ready to find herself hurtling through space via a strange sandy wormhole, but instead found that she was flying a few feet above the ground.

"BUGGER!" Alaska growled, and readied for the impact as she hurtled towards the ground. She bent her knees to absorb the blow, and put her bag around her middle to stop any pain. Unfortunately, Alaska didn't plan it very well: her legs smashed in the ground at a powerful force, causing Alaska to fall flat onto the ground. Darwin's PokeBall flew out of her hand and burst open as Alaska's hand slid across the gravel, and her bag burst open, causing Paige's PokeBall to roll out as well.

"Bastardised bloody gym!" Alaska growled, staring down at her body: her hands were raw and scratched painfully, blood beginning to flow, whilst the knees on her pants had been torn, badly grazing her knees.

"Pidgey Pidge Pidgey?" Paige fluttered down, clutching her own PokeBall and Darwin's in her talons, staring at Alaska with wide eyes of horror. Darwin, meanwhile, was glaring towards the gym, making Karate Chop motions in mid air.

"I'll be alright, nothing that can't be fixed up," Alaska said with a sigh, and reached into her bag for some of the plasters her mother had insisted she pack before going on her journey. "I'm more annoyed about the gym – Brock wants me to catch another Pokemon or tain more before I battle him."

"MAN?" Darwin squealed angrily, wheeling around in mid-chop. Alaska sadly nodded, knowing that Darwin had been looking forward to this match for a while. "MANKEY MAN MAN MAN KEEEEY!" The Mankey yelled angrily, and he smashed his fist into the ground. The tile cracked into pieces, the attack so powerful that a bit whacked Paige on the head.

"Pidgey Gee Gee Pidge!" Paige snapped, shaking a fist angrily. Alaska simply sighed again, knowing how Darwin felt. She was willing to drive her own fists into the ground, but she didn't want to injure them anymore. As she wiped the blood away and stuck the plasters on, Alaska couldn't help but feel a bit useless. She had travelled all this way from Pallet, gone through the death trap that had been Viridian Forest, trained her Pokemon up as much as she thought necessary, yet it didn't seem to be enough. Alaska had no idea how much more she was meant to train them. She had received comments on her blog that Brock was a real pushover: did the gym leader not see Alaska as a worthy enough opponent? Had this trip be worth anything if she wasn't even going to be given a chance to prove herself? Alaska could see Chloe's laughing face floating above her eyes, hear the sound in her ears.

_I knew you couldn't do it! Your just a poor, useless loser! And look at that outfit… it looks like an outlet store threw up and used it clothes to mop up the mess!_

"Rot in hell!" Alaska growled, knowing perfectly well Chloe wasn't there (even though she was quite pleased how well she could conjure up a Chloe-grade pathetic insult), but lashed out anyway.

"PIDGE!" Paige gasped as Alaska accidentally whacked her in the face. Alaska gasped and clasped her injured hands to her face as Darwin began to snigger behind them.

"Oh my gosh, I'm really sorry!" Alaska said quickly, getting back to her feet. Paige simply stared at her, a bemused look on her face. Alaska didn't like it, and quickly realised why: Paige raised her talons and threw the two PokeBalls forwards, giving them an extra whack with her wings. Darwin fell the ground laughing as both balls hit Alaska square in the face, leaving perfectly circular red marks. Paige fell the ground as well as she covered her mouth with both wings, trying hard not to laugh at Alaska's face. The trainer looked down, her face a cross between anger and amusement, and simply sighed.

"I'm going to get you for that!" She called, and lunged forwards. Paige took off into the air, laughing loudly, as Alaska jokingly clawed after the bird. The annoyance at being stopped from entering the gym quickly left, and Alaska was glad to simply play with her oldest friend for the first time in ages. Though her knees hurt and Darwin's jumping around threatened to trip her up, Alaska simply laughed and laughed, ready to do this for hours.

A loud horn suddenly interrupted their perfect day.

The sound was loud, rude and unnecessary, and managed to pause Alaska and Paige in their tracks. A small red car had screeched to a halt a few metres away, the male driver poking his head out of the window and yelling at the person who had, presumably, run right in front of him. Alaska glanced around, wondering who was the cause of all of this of commotion, but couldn't see anyone else in sight.

"Gee Pidge," Paige whispered, and pointed towards the side of a nearby building. Alaska followed were she was pointing and finally saw who the man was shouting at: it was a figure, gender and age untellable from this distance, though the person was slim and tall and wearing dark clothing. They didn't seem to care at all about nearly causing an accident, simply rushing away down the street.

Instantly, Alaska thought back to what had happened in the Beedrill nest. There had been the voice that spoke to her: the creepy, unnatural, chilling voice that she didn't have a face to associate it with. The way this figure was walking, as if it was hoping to get away quickly and without being noticed, Alaska couldn't help but wonder who it was.

"Come on guys, we're going," Alaska said instantly, and bent down and grabbed the PokeBalls and her bag. Paige and Darwin exchanged a glance, but they simply nodded, Paige landing on one shoulder and Darwin beginning to hop alongside. Alaska knew she should be training, getting ready to face Brock again, but this figure seemed too mysterious, and she had to know why and where they were going, if only to solve the question that had been bothering her for days.

The path led, rather surprisingly, towards the Pewter City Museum.

Alaska, Paige and Darwin followed the shadowy figure for ten minutes, moving between buildings and dodging cars, Alaska doing her best to keep an eye out for the person. She managed to keep an eye on him for most of the time, but in the last minute, a speeding cyclist nearly bowled Alaska off her feet. Alaska was ready to fire a few choice insults, but was instead left in stitches when Darwin sent the cyclist flying over the handlebars and threw his bike up onto the roof. By the time Alaska and Paige had stopped rolling on the pavement laughing, attracting many odd looks from the residents, they found the shadowed figure had disappeared from view. The only place he had to have gone in though was the gigantic museum in front.

Alaska had been here only once when she was very young to see an exhibition on ancient ruins with her mother and older siblings, though she couldn't remember much about it. Standing here, images of the museum came rushing back towards her, though it looked different from last time. It was still three storeys high, with an extensive basement storage underneath, and was painted a very solid shade of mahogany with white along the edges and the windows. Alaska was sure the roof had been pointed last time, but now it appeared to be flat, with several statues of Rock type Pokemon against the edges. A large expanse of grass stood in front, with more statues of both people and Pokemon scattered between trees, magnificent flowers and gazebos that were already full of people.

"This is probably going to be the most intelligent building we visit on this journey," Alaska told her Pokemon as she made her way forwards up the cracked grey footpath. A revolving door was already turning around, ready to greet them inside the museum. "Now, you two better behave in here. There's a lot of old crap in here that can't really be disturbed. Oh, and there's some ancient displays around as well," Alaska added with a smile, and Paige and Darwin smirked. Several elderly woman who heard her shot them all wrinkly evil glares, and Alaska simply laughed as she walked up the grand staircase towards the door. A large poster was on either side, showing ancient fossils on a brown background, the large yellow banner reading "FOSSILS OF THE KANTO REGION – Limited Time Only!"

"Looks like we are going to be seeing a few millennium old objects then," Alaska informed her team, and stepped forwards into the revolving door, ready to find out what the mysterious figure wanted, and wheter it had to do with these fossils.


	19. Chapter 13: Trust This to be Unlucky

**Chapter Thirteen: Trust This to be Unlucky**

Alaska was overwhelmed the second she walked in.

The museum was clearly huge judging just by the atrium. It was the size of Alaska's entire house, with a few more houses piled on top to make up the extra floors. It was very white and pristine, with huge white tiles that seemed to sparkle as people walked over them. Gigantic columns flanked the marble staircase and the entrance to the other exhibits. More people were staring over the balconies on the other floors, and as Alaska looked up at them, she saw the gigantic glass skylight that was in between two magnificent crystal chandeliers, swamping the room with light.

"I'm going to go right ahead and call it: this is the fanciest building we will enter during this trip!" Alaska told Paige and Darwin, taking a few more steps in and marvelling the structure. Paige nodded in agreement, but Darwin seemed rather bored, probably because there wasn't anything to punch. Alaska continued to look at the amazing architecture as she joined a short queue to get a ticket, and stared at the murals of different Pokemon running along each of the balconies.

"Hello ma'am, and welcome to the Pewter City Museum," a woman in a blue uniform said as Alaska stepped up. "It is $50 for entrance, and your Pokemon must be kept near you at all times if –,"

"$50!" Alaska cried, causing several people to turn around and stare. "I'm only going to be here for a few minutes, I'm not paying that much!"

"- at all times if you insist on keeping them out," the woman continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, "and even if you here for one minute or one hour, the price stays the same." Alaska glared at the woman and was tempting to tell her where she could go and shove her price, but realised that she did need to get in and see where this shadowed man had gone.

"Fine, take your money," Alaska snapped, dropping the appropriate amount onto the counter, "but tell me this: have you seen any strange men come past, most likely wearing all black?"

"Ma'am, we get a lot of strange men in here, it's a museum," the woman replied dryly, grabbing the money and putting it into the till. "Our space exhibit takes up the majority of this floor along with our cafes and stores, the next floor is our research facilities, library, history of the local area and Legendary Exhibit, and the top floor is the Fossils of the Kanto Region."

"Huh, not much for fifty bucks," Alaska scowled, and left the woman looking like she'd been slapped as she walked past and entered the atrium.

"Pidgey Pidge Gee Pidge," Paige whispered into Alaska's ear as they approached the first staircase on the left.

"I know I'm a bitch Paige, just get used to it," Alaska replied with a smirk, and marched straight through a tour group and began climbing the stairs. Several vases and paintings were displayed all around, and a glass cabinet Alaska passed as the staircase turned had a number of ancient PokeBalls stored inside. Alaska wished to be able to explore the museum more (especially after the outrageous entrance fee that she would rant about in her blog next chance she got), but finding the mysterious man was more important. Space had never interested her that much, and she only liked libraries when she knew something useful could be found within.

"That exhibit on legendaries is permanent, so he could have come here anytime he wanted," Alaska explained to Paige as Darwin stared away, staring at the number of things on display as they turned and continued up the stairs. "The science equipment I presume would be well guarded, so he probably isn't going there – Darwin, don't touch – which leaves the fossils as the last possible thing to go to," Alaska concluded, grasping onto Darwin's hands as he reached out towards a collection of ancient plates.

"Gey Pidge," Paige said, and Alaska simply nodded as they passed another tour group, struggling to hold onto Darwin's fidgeting hands.

"It isn't that crowded, so he should be easy enough to find," Alaska replied, and Paige sighed and shrugged in response. Alaska rolled her eyes and they ventured up the last few stairs in silence, staring around for any sign of the mystery man. The sunlight coming from the skylight was enough to light their way, but Alaska knew it wouldn't provide as much light as they passed into the wings, and knew the man had to be hiding in there.

But just as Alaska was about to put her feet onto the top floor, thinking about how to find the man, she heard a cry from behind her and quickly turned. A man was running up behind her, a shocked look on his handsome face. Alaska's heart fluttered a bit as she stared at the man, who looked in his late twenties, and was wearing a black suit that managed to look casual as it snugged his toned body. His face was youthful and tanned, his eyes a sparkling blue and his hair sandy blonde.

"Mind your Pokemon!" He shouted, and Alaska snapped out of her daydream to find Darwin had slipped out of her clutches without her noticing, scaling the wall towards a vase on top of a decorative marble column.

"DARWIN!" Alaska screamed, and the Mankey froze a few feet away.

"Man Man Man Man Man!" He squawked, but Alaska and Paige both shot him a steely glare, and Darwin let out an angry sigh, leaping off the wall and back onto Alaska's shoulder that nearly sent her toppling, if the man hadn't given her a hand.

"Your Pokemon seems a bit restless there," the handsome said, giving Alaska a sparkling smile as he helped her upright. "It could very well be his nature: is he Naughty or Rash by any chance?"

"I have no idea what that means," Alaska admitted, the two walking up the last few steps together. "I am not really knowledgeable about some of this Pokemon stuff, I just set out to train them and win badges."

"Ah, like most trainers I've met," the man laughed. "Learning your Pokemon's natures can help you work out how to train them and where their strengths lie. If you have a PokeDex, that could tell you, otherwise see a scientist or Pokemon Doctor. You know when it could be helpful," he continued, and Alaska nodded, actually rather interested. She stared at Paige's attentive and loyal face and than at Darwin's distracted and slightly twitchy glare: maybe there was some nature behind them that could help her out with training them and gaining an upper hand on the reality stars.

"I'm Mark, Mark Hansom, by the way," the man said as they headed down the corridor into the fossil section, passing by a multicoloured metal shield as they did so. "I am on the Board of Directors here and helped to organise this exhibit."

"Yes you are," Alaska said, thinking it was in her head, admiring how wonderfully his name matched him.

"Excuse me?" Mark said in surprise, and Alaska stopped dead in her tracks, Paige and Darwin giggling on her shoulders.

"I said, I saw your name on the poster when I came in," Alaska explained quickly, slurring her words slightly. "I'm Alaska Acevedo, and I'm just on my journey." Mark's eyes widened slightly as she said her name, but she blinked and they were back to normal, though there was a look across his face that definitely showed interest.

"Well hello then Alaska," he said, leading her further inside the fossil exhibit. Alaska, Paige and even Darwin began to stare around at the amazing things on display. Around fifty glass cabinets were placed around the room, ranging from ones you could stare down into to ones set into the wall, each one containing either one or two large fossils or about a dozen smaller ones. Photos, descriptions and text were placed on stands next to each cabinet, and a text and photos about the excavation process had been put on the wall. Several interactive screens were going around the room, groups of children giggling as they pressed the buttons, but the thing that attracted Alaska's attention the most was a gigantic banner right above her, jogging a few memories of things she had learnt back at school.

Several Pokemon had been painted on there, the image truly spectacular. It showed a clawed Kabutops crawling out from the ocean, scythes raised threateningly, as an army of Kabuto and Omanyte crawled out from behind. A single Omanstar was on top of a rock, tentacles wriggling and waving, calling out into the night. And at the very top of the banner, an Aerodactyl was swooping out of the sky, mouth open wide with teeth bared, wings stretched wide with sharp claws raised deviously. The prehistoric scene was dark and stormy, with a bolt of lightning drawn in the backdrop, and the foliage that surrounded was all dark green and ghostly looking.

The banner seemed so life like that Alaska remembered another horror movie she had watched with her father, involving an Aerodactyl coming back to life and terrorising a small town. The movie monster had scared her terribly back then, and Alaska could feel a bit of a shiver staring into the malicious eyes and gaping black mouth.

"I seriously hope you guys never bring one of those things back to life," Alaska said to Mark, who chuckled. "I swear that thing would be able to pull you to bits and feast on my flesh within a few seconds!"

"Well, if we manage to bring one back to life, we'll make sure nothing bad happens like that," Mark laughed. "It is a Water type, so we'll have plenty of Pokemon on standby."

"Have you ever brought a fossil Pokemon back to life before?"

"We were planning too, after we found the Old Amber, Dome Fossil and Helix Fossil needed to bring Aerodactyl, Kabuto and Omanyte back respectively," Mark explained, looking a bit frustrated as he said it. "The technology was ready and waiting all the way on Cinnabar Island, but then…" Alaska made an 'aah' sound, seeing where this was going. Cinnabar Island had erupted several years ago, coating the entire island in molten lava that began to set. It was no simply a giant, bare brown lump in the middle of the ocean, a place people avoided in fear of an eruption happening again.

"But don't you still have the fossils?" Alaska asked as they walked past displays of fossilised Pidgey feathers and Rattata skeletons. Several elderly women smiled at Alaska, and she noticed a young couple making out behind a cabinet, clearly not here for the educational purposes.

"I would like to say so, as I kept the fossils on my after the eruption. But I stored them in my car during another incident, and I returned to find my car had been destroyed. I don't know what happened to the fossils, as we didn't find any remnants of them, but we have teams searching Mt Moon for whatever is left," Mark explained sadly. He stopped in front of another cabinet, and Alaska turned to investigate. Three things were on display: one was a slightly lump orange-red oval, the other two looked like mounds of rock with different things (one a hill, the other a spiral) carved into them.

"Copies of the fossils?" Alaska asked, looking up and staring into the handsome man's eyes. Mark nodded, looking rather pained as he stared at the copies, and Alaska could understand why: to come so close to turning a pile of rock into a living, breathing thing only to have it destroyed must be a horrible feeling. "I'm sure you'll be able to find some more fossils, there have to be some lying around somewhere."

"I sure hope so," Mark said, smiling down at her. "I just wish Mt Moon hadn't caved in and we lost half of the area to explore. It is a real bitch digging up the same area time after time," and Alaska began laughing. She ignored Paige as she began jabbering away in her ear, enjoying her little bonding moment with Mark.

"PIDGE!" Paige squawked, cuffing Alaska over the head with a wing.

"What?" Alaska snapped back, turning to look at her, but quickly froze.

A man was standing a few metres in front of them. He was wearing a long black coat and a black hat, hiding his features from them all. An Electrode was besides the man, sparking angrily at Darwin, who had leapt off of Paige's shoulder and had his hands raised in a combat pose.

However, Alaska's eyes were firmly set on the gun clasped in the man's pale hands, and she began to wish an Aerodactyl would swoop out of the false amber behind her and whisk her away, not wanting to know what would happen next.


	20. Chapter 14: More Bang for Buck

**Chapter Fourteen: More Bang for your Buck **

Alaska could feel her breath escape her as she clutched onto Paige, watching the strange man in dark clothing as he took a step forwards, and she quickly realised this was the most scared she had ever been in her life. The robotic Beedrill she knew they would be able to take down, but Alaska had no idea how to unarm a man with a gun in a crowded room who also had an evolved Pokemon that could take hers down.

"Fakes, are these Mr Hansom?" The man said, taking a step forwards, and Alaska quickly registered one key fact about him: it was not the man that stood behind her in the Beedrill's nest. It was someone else who had a secret agenda, someone who it seemed wanted the fossils. Alaska reminded herself to tell Paige _I told you so _later, but she simply stood still and silent for now, wondering how she could get out of here, along with Mark and all the others cowering museum-goers scattered throught the room.

"That is quite a pity," the man said as he walked forwards, now only a few feet away from Alaska, staring towards Mark. The handsome man glared back at the man, doing his best to keep his composure, but Alaska could see beads of sweat running down his skin in fear. However, she was also now able to see what the man looked like. His skin was very pale but was also spotted with filth and scars, and his eyes were hidden behind darkened glasses. His lips kept twitching and curling as he stood there, breathing deeply towards Mark. The black clothes he wore were dirty and tattered, and Alaska couldn't help but wonder where this filthy person had come from, and wheter he was some deranged homeless junkie like the type her mother would cross the road to avoid.

"It is such a shame: I made a special trip to come here and get the fossils, hoping you would have found them by now," the man sighed in an airy, overdramatic manner. "Maybe you aren't the adventurer you used to be… oh well, I must go to Mt Moon myself. I could have taken _your _Pokemon, but your Kabutops and Omanstar aren't quite what I'm looking for."

"What, I thought you hadn't brought them back to life!" Alaska gasped, and than gasped again as she realised the attention was now on her: Mark staring fearfully at her, and the strange man turning towards her with a smile on his face. Paige's talons cut into Alaska's skin as the Pidgey seized up, and Alaska felt the same way as the armed man walked forwards, revealing stained yellow teeth as he smiled down at her. He didn't say anything, just smiled, and Alaska wanted to reach out and punch him.

"I thought you just meant Aerodactyl," Mark explained quickly. "We brought a Kabuto and Omanyte back to life, and were working on an Aerodactyl and more experiments when the eruption happened."

"Than that's when I stole the fossils from someone's car," the man explained, smiling down at his Electrode as if it was a glorious thing. "Silly little Marky here didn't lock up properly, so I managed to sneak in and steal them during a tiny little fight, and than buried them in Mt Moon so I wouldn't lose them if my base was ever found. Unfortunately, I never made it back, so I thought I would pop by here and see if they were around here before I went to grab them."

"Let me guess, you were too busy living under a rock to go get them?" Alaska snarled, unable to stop herself. Mark and Paige gasped as the man's face fell into a scowl, and before Alaska knew it his hand was flying through the air. She gasped as it smashed into her face, dizzying her and sending her careering back against the wall.

"MANKEY MAN MAN!" Darwin yelled in protest, but the man simply laughed and held the gun up towards Mark's temple before he could act out. Silence fell across the room as Alaska felt her face, tasting blood inside her mouth, listening as several people trapped in the room began to sob. Why wasn't someone around to help them? Surely somebody must have come up the staircase and headed towards this exhibit, only to find the scene at hand and race back to get help. But no one was there to help, and Alaska lay on the floor staring towards the gun, Paige jabbering away besides her ear.

"If you insult me again, or your Pokemon try anything, I will scatter Mr Hansom's brains across this lovely wall," the man hissed through his smile. "It seems there is no other need for me to be in here, so I think I will leave now. But Electrode will stay here, and if anyone tries to leave, he will electrocute everything in here," the man explained, and on cue Electrode began to spark threateningly, causing more people to whimper and cry. "I am just going to grab some of the technology downstairs to help me with my process, then we will be out of your hair and you can sell your stories to the woman's magazines or become addicted to drugs, whatever helps you cope," and the man turned and began to laugh as he walked past Electrode, his gun still pointed towards Mark. Fear was seeping through Alaska as she watched him go away, but she knew she couldn't let him achieve his goals. There was something seriously wrong with this man, but she was getting the idea Mark knew who it was and had dealt with him in the past, as the handsome man had fear in his eyes that was possibly worse than Alaska's. She had to do something to help, and a plan was already forming in her mind.

"Quick Attack on the gun, now," Alaska hissed to Paige. She heard her gasp and turned her head to see the Pidgey's eyes had doubled in size. Alaska reached out and stroked her feathers, giving her a smile she hoped would mask the worry in her eyes. "You have to, its our only hope, and I know you can do it!" Paige relaxed at the calm words, and together the two looked around the room: the elderly women were shaking horribly, the female of the couple was crying, all the children were sobbing wrecks. Paige knew she had to do it, and she gave Alaska a nod.

"PIDGE!" She screamed before rocketing forwards at an alarming speed, energy engulfing her. Electrode spun around to watch her, glowing yellow to fire an attack, but it was too late: the man turned around as Paige smashed into the gun, making it scream as his fingers snapped, and the weapon spun away towards the wall.

"KEY MAN!" Darwin screamed, and ran forwards with hands raised. A powerful Karate Chop smashed into Electrode before it could locate Paige to fire at, and the oversized PokeBall struck a display, electricity shooting out. The case exploded, sending glass and bits of wood flying around like shrapnel, screams echoing everywhere as people dived for cover.

"Excellent job," Mark said, heaving Alaska up for one hand and throwing two PokeBalls with the other. There was a burst of bright light, and suddenly a great furry, furious Primeape and the hideous and threatening Pinsir had formed, their appearances causing a few more screams from the old ladies.

"STOP THEM!" The strange man screamed as he ran for the gun, but Darwin bounded forwards and brought another Karate Chop down on his shoulders, sending the man sprawling to the ground.

"Brick Break and ViceGrip NOW!" Mark screamed, and turned towards Alaska before checking if the moves had been executed properly. "Alaska, you need to get these people out of here, now! Take them down to the lobby and alert the guards! I can hold Gideon off, just go!"

"I think I should stay," Alaska replied, storing away the fact this man's name was Gideon. "The guards are more likely to listen to you, and I imagine the people will just an official like yourself more than a teenage girl!" This wasn't really why Alaska wanted to stay: she wanted to prove herself to, well, herself. After being rejected by Brock before, Alaska needed to show that she was able to kick some serious butt, even if she only had two unevolved Pokemon. She was a powerful, thoughtful and strategic trainer, and stood just as much of a chance as Mark did. Alaska was surprised he didn't protest, simply sighing and nodding.

"You are probably right. Besides, my Pokemon aren't that well trained anyway, despite what I like to think," Mark said with a hint of a sexy smile. As if on cue, Electrode released a powerful Electric attack as Primeape threw him across the room. The bolts caused more glass to explode and people to scream, and the lights all flickered on before bursting as well. "Good luck, I have a feeling you can do this."

"Thanks," Alaska replied, and looked around to try and find her Pokemon: Darwin and Paige were both chasing after the man Gideon, who was throwing bits of fossil at them as he ducked their attacks.

"EVERYONE MOVE!" Mark yelled, and he ran forwards, Primeape and Pinsir going from battle mode to helping mode as they ushered the people forwards. Electrode was embedded in the interactive screen, growling and unleashing more Thunderbolts at the passing people. Mark picked up the gun as he ran and fired it towards Gideon, but the madman ducked behind a case that shattered as the bullets smashed it.

"Paige, Steel Wing on Electrode, now!" Alaska shouted as the last of the people ran away, Mark yelling out in the distance. As Alaska moved slowly towards Gideon, grabbing a fossil as she did so for a weapon, Paige quickly flew forward with her glowing silver wings.

"Trode Elec Elec," Electrode sparked, trying to fire towards her, but Paige was too speedy and dived towards it. Alaska watched as the Steel Wing struck with such force that Electrode became dislodged, smashing into the wall before rolling forwards, unconscious.

"Brilliant work there Paige!" Alaska called out in delight, and turned back towards where Gideon should be, based on how Darwin was dancing around one case. However, a sudden white light began to glow behind her, and Alaska turned around curiously. Paige was shining a dazzling white, resting on top of the banner which had managed to remain intact during this whole incident. Alaska's jaw dropped as Paige's wings began to spread, her body almost doubling in height and width, her claws getting longer, her plumage growing longer, before glowing the brightest white yet.

"PIDGEEEEOOOOTTOOOO!" Was the cry that followed, and Alaska's face lit up as she stared up at the banner, Paige the Pidgeotto nestling there with wings outstretched and a proud smile on her face. Dazzling yellow and pink plumage grew out of her head and rear, giving her a very elegant look, matched by her silky brown and cream feathers and serious black eyes. Alaska couldn't believe this was happening, and completely forgot about Gideon as she ran forwards in delight, Paige swooping down into her hug.

"Congratulations, this is so awesome!" She screamed, and the two old friends stayed in their hug, Alaska remembering back to when she got Paige three years ago, never imagining her turning from anything other than an adorable little Pidgey.

"Maaan!" A cry shattered their hug, and Alaska and Paige looked up in time to see Darwin soaring towards them. Alaska quickly caught him and turned back towards the bullet-damaged case, Gideon know standing there looking furious, a black PokeBall in his hand that Alaska didn't recognise.

"You are a fool to have gotten involved in this," he hissed as Electrode was brought back. "You are now involved in a game bigger than anything you could have possibly imagined, and I hope you are prepared for the consequences for your actions today!"

"Um, let's see... I stopped you from killing anyone or from getting the technology you were planning on stealing… I can live with that," Alaska said with a smile as Paige and Darwin tensed up on either side, but Gideon simply smirked.

"Your jokes won't save you in the end, and I know where else I can find the technology I need," he snarled, and suddenly pulled something from his pocket. For a moment Alaska thought it was a gun and gasped, but looked down at the black leather suitcase Gideon had pulled out.

"What's that: notes for how to dress badly and a packed lunch from your mum?" Alaska asked, and Paige and Darwin twittered.

"No, actually it's a bomb," Gideon explained, and Alaska and her Pokemon froze in shock, causing the strange man to laugh. He pushed a button on the suitcase and threw it towards the middle of the room, and than pressed a button on his watch. "You have about a minute. I hope you make it out alive, I would like to kill you with my bare hands," Gideon snarled before suddenly glowing a white much like Paige's evolutionary light. There was a blinding flash and when Alaska blinked, the man was gone. She cursed under her breath, wanting to have defeated him here and now, but there were more pressing matters to deal with and she turned to the bomb. Alaska could imagine a ticking sound coming from something that was otherwise rather harmless looking, and she felt sweat trickle down the back of her neck, fear swell up inside of her.

"Alright, I'm not touching that thing, so I suggest we just run screaming and flailing," she said, and Paige and Darwin nodded, and they moved quickly. Alaska had never been particularly fast, but she found some energy as she sprinted forwards, Paige flying above and Darwin jumping alongside. She knew they would get out of the room and towards the stairs, but getting closer Alaska could hear the noise of all of the days customers moving down below, and came to a halt at the top of the staircase: it would undoubtedly be blocked, meaning she wouldn't get completely out of harm's way in time. Alaska needed to get off this floor quickly though, and looking around, all she could see was the balcony that lead towards the open atrium.

"Shit!" She screamed, looking fearfully back towards the waiting bomb, wondering if she had any time left at all. "We need to get down but I don't know how!" Alaska stared at her Pokemon, not wanting to lose Paige after she just evolved, or Darwin and his strength, or lose now, before she had even won a battle…

"Mankey Man Man Key!" Darwin suddenly jabbered, and Alaska looked up, wiping a tear away as the Mankey grabbed the colourful shield they had passed on the way into the exhibit. Darwin raced forwards, holding it up, moving towards the balcony.

"That's insane!" Alaska screamed, knowing what he was suggesting, and wanted to shout something else, form another plan. But a loud, rapid ticking was sounding behind her for real now, and Alaska knew the bomb was about to go off. "Oh what the hell: we'll die one way or another!" She ran forwards and grabbed the shield, resting it on the edge of the balcony and cautiously climbed in. Paige grabbed her shoulders and Darwin leapt in, and Alaska stared over the side. Her heart stopped and leapt up into her throat as she realised she would fall two whole storeys into the large crowd of people gathering below. She was die and possibly take some people with her… it was madness… who in their right minds would do this, even to save their own life…

"MAN!" Darwin screamed, and jumped on the shield, causing it to tip and sending Alaska's stomach up into her throat, joining the scream she released as her whole tipped, the shield beginning to fall.

Than the bomb exploded.

Alaska couldn't see it, but she felt the heat rise up above her as the shield fell, felt the force of the wave as it struck the shield, but than blanked out to everything else as the shield began to spin. Alaska couldn't even scream, feeling her head and brain bounce around, all her organs being rearranged, her bones clattering together. She could feel something around her shoulders, and for a moment she thought it was something hitting her from the bomb, but Alaska realised it was Paige pulling on her, trying to control the shield. In her spinning, blurry vision, Alaska could see people screaming and running, flashes of giant orange cloud that was stretching across, concrete and marble flying everywhere.

Than, as quickly as it had started, Alaska found herself upright, the world back to its right proportions, and could hear and feel Paige's long wings beating as she tried to steady them. The crowd was running out of the way as the concrete smashed into the ground, and Alaska realised they were probably all running away from her. She then realised that Paige was losing control, and they were now heading straight for the admissions desk.

"MOVE IT!" She screamed, before clutching the metal and shutting her eyes.

"KEEEEY!" Darwin screamed in delight, clearly enjoying the experience.

"OOOOTTOOO!" Paige screamed in horror, clearing not enjoying the experience.

The force of impact shuddered through Alaska's body. She heard wood shatter and felt things battering against her, felt the shield being torn away, felt things tearing her clothes and cutting her, and finally felt relief as Alaska rolled along the floor, finally coming to a rest against something.

Alaska groaned as she opened her eyes. People were screaming and running all around, causing a great deal of noise she didn't need to deal with. She glanced around to find the majority of the admissions desk had been destroyed by the falling shield, which now looked fairly dented. Paige was resting against a swivel chair breathing deeply, while Darwin danced excitedly on the spot, clearly enjoying what happened.

"Well… that was interesting," Alaska mumbled, getting to her feet and swaying slightly as she did so. She watched as more people ran past, and looked up towards the section of balcony she had fallen from, which had now been blown apart. "That was a bloody long fall," she said, and Paige grunted in acknowledgement.

"Ma'am, you need to leave, now!" A familiar voice said, and Alaska turned to see the same person who had greeted her before was behind her, dust from the falling concrete across her uniform. Alaska simply gave her the foulest look she could manage, not wanting to deal with anything after what had just happened. She deserved to be thanked for helping to save people and congratulated on managing to survive, not get hurried outside by some museum tart.

"I think I deserve a refund," Alaska snapped, pushing a button on the still intact till and pulling fifty dollars out. "It wasn't really worth the money after all," she added with a touch of acid, leaving the woman with her jaw dropped. Paige and Darwin laughed as they got back on Alaska's aching shoulders, and she turned and headed for the door. She wanted to sit down and think about what had happened. She wanted to find Mark ask what the hell was going on. She wanted to go on her laptop and post about the roller coaster like fall she'd just gone through.

But mostly, Alaska wanted to find Brock and defeat him. She was pretty sure she was ready for him now.


	21. Chapter 15: Down and Dirty in the Dirt

**Chapter Fifteen: Getting Down and Dirty in the Dirt**

A quick spray of Potions, a brisk check of injuries and a fast run through of moves learnt, with a bit of a surprise, Alaska, Paige and Darwin headed towards Pewter Gym.

Determination burned through Alaska as she walked towards the rock shaped building. After just escaping death so narrowly, and for the second time in a rather short space of days, she was ready to take on Brock. She wanted to show that she had the skills and power to win in battle, and had a perfect strategy in place, based on what she knew about Brock and his Pokemon. Alaska didn't quite know his style, but with her own unique spin, she would easily be able to defeat him.

"Are you two ready?" She asked Paige and Darwin, who were once again on her shoulders. The new and proud Pidgeotto gave a smile and a nod, while Darwin simply glared towards the gym, a steely look in his eyes. "That's a yes in my books. Let's go in and win this first badge!" Alaska took a deep breath, steadying and readying herself, and quickly cleared her mind of all questions about the mysterious Gideon and what had just happened. She took a step forwards, and the doors parted open.

"Back again, I see? Nice to see the sand didn't have too much of an effect on you," the robotic, disembodied voice chortled, causing Alaska to come to a halt. She glanced around again, and Paige and Darwin stared around in confusion, but Alaska decided to ignore it for now and walked determinedly forwards, taking extra care to avoid the quicksand all around her. The lights were out again, but as Alaska thought of something witty to throw in Brock's face, she began to hear a very familiar voice.

"I don't know if he escaped or not, but I imagine with the things he built he would have found a way," Mark Hansom was saying in the darkness. "I am going to contact all the necessary people as soon as I leave here, but just be on the lookout if you see him around, alright?"

"I will call you straight away, but I think we have the person here to answer all your questions," Brock said calmly, and the lights suddenly turned on. Darwin leapt onto the nearest rock as Brock and Mark suddenly appeared: Brock seemed rather calm, but Mark's handsome face appeared stressed as he turned towards Alaska in shock.

"Alaska, how are you, are you alright?" He exclaimed, rushing across the sandy field towards her.

"I'm fine!" Alaska said, ignoring him and staring back towards Brock, who raised an eyebrow at her stare. "I am fine to battle, and I am ready to battle!"

"I can see that," Brock said with a nod. "I notice you know have a Pidgeotto… better than a Pidgey, yes, but not all that better in the long run." His calm but arrogant demeanour was annoying Alaska, and she wanted to shove Mark aside and send Darwin hurtling towards him.

"Alaska, I need to know: did you manage to defeat Gideon?" Mark asked quickly. "I know you want to battle, but I saw the explosion and I must know!" Alaska sighed and figured it was best to answer, just so she could start her fight.

"He teleported away using this watch device," Alaska explained. "He said he knew another place to get the technology, so he must be going there or Mt Moon to get the fossils next." Than Alaska remembered some of the things he had said beforehand that were making her feel slightly worried. "He also said I was involved in a game now, and that I had to be prepared for the consequences of my actions." Mark nodded along to what she said, and tried to look calm and not worried, but when Alaska mentioned another place to get the technology, Mark's eyes bulged open for just a second, enough time for Alaska to see that information frightened him.

"Alight, thank you Alaska! I am sorry for what you had to go through today, and I hope I can make it up for you at some point," Mark said, giving her a pat on the shoulder. For a moment, Alaska was tempted to ask for a kiss, but pushed the joking thought out of her head and began to get her mind back on the battle. "I hope you have a good battle! I need to head back to the museum and check the damage. Brock, make sure you stop by there later," and with a final wave, Mark quickly walked away from the battlefield. Alaska was glad that he was gone: it was now just her and Brock with the sandy, rock strewn field in between them.

"Are you sure you wish to go through with this?" Brock asked as he pulled out a PokeBall. Alaska simply smirked, and exchanged smiles with Paige and Darwin. She had travelled this far and gone through so much already: she wasn't turning back now.

"Bring it on, Rock Head," she called out, and Brock simply laughed.

"Alright then: it will be a two on two match, due to your lack of Pokemon. Let's just hope they are all you need. GO GEODUDE!" He yelled intensely, and the ball burst open: the familiar rock head with bulky arms formed on the field, and Alaska looked down as the Geodude seemed to glare at her rather than her Pokemon.

"Let me guess, this is the guy I hit with my brownies?" She asked and Brock nodded, causing Alaska to laugh. "Excellent, it's always fun to go against old enemies! Darwin, in you go!" The Mankey leapt skilfully forward, landing a few feet in front of Geodude, and the two's glaring eyes met. Alaska was annoyed at Brock's latest dig, and was determined to bring him down at any cost. There was a tense silence for a moment, the two trainers deciding their moves and working out a last minute strategy, but than the match began!

"Tackle to start with!" Brock commanded.

"Easy defeat! Beat him back with a Karate Chop!" Alaska yelled. Geogude came soaring forwards with a push of his hands against the ground, but Darwin was ready and quickly brought his right hand down on the Rock Pokemon before he could get far: the force was enough to send Geodude flying backwards, crashing through a rock and landing near Brock.

"Impressive, but not impressive enough!" Brock called out as Geodude leapt back up. "Rock Throw, now!" Alaska wanted to get Geodude out of the way without tiring Darwin out, and was hoping the Karate Chop would have done more damage.

"Alright Darwin, use Seismic Toss to send the rock backwards!" Alaska ordered.

"GEOOOO!" Geodude yelled, grabbing a large piece of rock that had broken off from his crashing. He raised it above his head and tossed it with all his might. It hurtled through the air like a meteor, but Darwin had his legs bent and was ready for action.

"MAN MAN!" He screamed and jumped up to grab the rock, than using the momentum to do a spin in mid air. Brock simply gasped as Darwin spun around before finally letting go, sending the rock flying back towards Geodude, who was unable to dodge in time: the rock shattered across his face, turning into little bits of stone and dust.

"Excellent!" Alaska cried out in delight, and Paige clapped her wings next to her. "Now get over there and use Seismic Toss on Geodude before he can pull himself together!" Darwin nodded and bounded forwards, leaping off the rocks and soaring through the air like the monkey he was, leaving a worried look on Brock's face.

"Use Mega Punch to blast him backwards!" He ordered. Geodude was dizzy from being hit by the rock, but wiped his face clear and looked towards the leaping Mankey that was coming his way. He raised a rocky left hand that he made into a fist, and began to glow a dazzling white. Alaska knew that a direct hit, even though it was a Normal move, could still badly weaken Darwin, who was gathering speed the further he leapt forwards. An idea quickly formed in her head, and Alaska hoped she could pull it off.

"Darwin, leap up and use your tail to wrap around his other hand, and than use that for Seismic Toss!" Alaska ordered. Darwin gave her the thumbs up and leapt further into the sky as Geodude sent himself flying forwards. Darwin managed to pass just overhead, the glowing fist missing him by inches, and than let his tail wrap around the free hand. Geodude and Brock both looked shocked as Darwin pulled Geodude down and landed on his hands, keeping his tail high. Alaska and Paige began to laugh as his tail spun around like helicopter propellers, turning Geodude into a giant grey blur.

"KEY MAN!" Darwin screamed, and Alaska stopped laughing as she saw him let go: Geodude was now hurtling towards her at the speed of a racing car. She screamed and bent backwards, Geodude hurtling so close to her body that she could feel his flailing limbs whack against her. Alaska fell to the ground in shock, and watched upside down as Geodude smashed into the walkway, sending more rocks flying up into the air, before coming to a stop. There was silence for a moment, and Alaska knew everyone was watching Geodude, waiting for any signs of life, but he simply lay there, as still as, well, a pile of rocks.

"YES!" Alaska screamed, punching the air as she leapt up. Brock looked annoyed as he brought Geodude back, but Alaska gave Paige a quick hug and Darwin the thumbs up, who was bouncing around happily at his win.

"Nice work," Brock called out as he replaced Geodude's PokeBall for his second. "An interesting use of strategy, I am quite impressed by your skill. But now let's see how you handle my second choice!"

"Don't worry, I'm ready!" Alaska called back, feeling more confident now after that successful onslaught of attacks that left Darwin unscathed and fit enough to fight. Brock simply smiled, and he threw his second PokeBall into the air. Alaska expected it to land, but it simply hovered there as it burst open. However, she was left gasping as the energy poured headed towards the ground but also remained in mid air, as if a miniature skyscraper had just been created. The light faded, leaving what frankly looked like a giant pile of rocks piled on top of each other, getting bigger as they went up, and the top one had a jagged mouth, giant white eyes and a bit jutting out.

"ONIIIIIIIIX!" The Rock Snake Pokemon yelled down at Alaska and her team. She had heard from other people and online that Brock usually used an Onix, but the real thing was much more intimidating than Alaska had expected: he looked extremely hard and the height didn't help, nor the rough face glaring and roaring down at them. Compared to this thing, Darwin was a toddler trying to pick a fight with its local playground, and would inevitably end up losing.

"We need to do our best Darwin!" Alaska called out, and her Mankey nodded, though, like her, their confidence was draining away.

"You'll have to fight your toughest to defeat Onix!" Brock called out, sounding more gleeful, though Onix's huge body was blocking the gym leader's face off. Alaska wanted to glare at him, to shout that they would fight into the bitter end, but she needed to keep her cool if she wanted to be in control, and thought of which move to use first.

"DIG!" Brock yelled, and Alaska cursed: if she didn't move fast, she would miss this crucial turn.

"Seismic Toss!" She yelled. Darwin ran forwards, ready to grab onto the very tip of Onix's tail to throw him across the gym, but as he got near, Onix suddenly curved up before diving down with a roar.

"Pidgey!" Pidgeotto squealed as dirt was sent flying by Onix's Dig, his head managing to create a large hole in the middle of the field. Darwin was sent flying by the swinging tail, causing the Mankey to whack against a rock and slump down.

"Get up Darwin, Onix could come back at any moment!" Alaska screamed as the ground shook from the creature rumbling beneath them, the original hole already being refilled from the ground Onix was channelling through flying up and grouping back together. "When Onix comes back up, jump and use Karate Chop to blast him backwards!"

"Man!" Darwin replied, and Alaska smiled too him, but she knew this attack would be a long shot. Dig was a major disadvantage to Darwin, and she just hoped he could pull through. The ground began to rumble even more, and Darwin quickly bent his legs, ready to leap at a moments notice. The ground beneath him cracked, and Darwin went to jump, Alaska crossing her fingers, but the large grey head came roaring out too quickly: Darwin yelled out as he was sent flying upwards, and than struck again as Onix emerged smoothly out of the ground.

"No!" Alaska gasped, watching as Darwin spun helplessly through the air. She looked down and saw Brock was now smirking across at her, glad to have the ball back in his field.

"End this with a Tackle!" He commanded, and Onix responded quickly. Alaska tried to give an order, but Onix simply raised his head as high as possible and brought it down on Darwin. He came soaring back to the ground and struck the field with a surprisingly loud thump. Sand rose up into the air for a few seconds, masking his fate, but Alaska knew what it would be. She sadly pulled her PokeBall out, and looked down at Darwin's unconscious body, mad at herself for letting him down: he stood a great chance at this gym, and Alaska hadn't been able to get him through.

"You did your best, thank you," she said to Darwin as he turned to energy and came back. Alaska took a deep breath in, telling herself not to lose hope: they were both even now, there was still a chance. "Ready Paige?"

"Pidgeotto Gee!" Paige said with a nod, and flapped her wings and took off. Alaska thought she might have gotten scared off by Onix, and could see nervousness in her eyes, but was glad her old friend was giving it a shot.

"Flying types regularly fail here, no matter what strategy you have," Brock called out. "Dig may be useless, but I still have some other tricks in my arsenal!"

"We have our own tricks, so we'll just have to see who is the trickiest, won't we?" Alaska said, and then cursed at how stupid her pun had been. But Brock simply laughed, and looked up towards Paige with his smirk. The Pidgeotto was glaring off at Onix, and Alaska knew her temper would help pull through.

"Rock Slide!" Brock exclaimed, and Alaska swore loudly enough for him to smirk once more, but she knew this move was highly powerful and would be tricky to avoid: Onix was smashing the ground with his tail already, causing the larger rock formations to glow brown, sending bits flying into the sky.

"Dodge them and Steel Wing him in the middle!" Alaska cried. Paige nodded down at her, but Alaska could see she looked rather nervous. The rocks were rising up above her, and Paige quickly flapped her wings, turning them into a shining silver. She began to fly as the rocks began to fall, and Alaska watched intently and in fright as Paige did some amazing aerial turns to avoid being flattened against the ground. Several clipped her wings and one whacked against her talons, but Paige kept flying forwards.

"OOONNNN!" Onix roared as Paige approached, and he swerved his body. Paige managed to hit him, but in the middle like Alaska hoped: the last minute swerve caused Paige to crash into his upper body, tipping Onix backwards but he was easily able to correct himself. Paige soared high above, and Alaska laughed to see how she was taunting him, the Rock Snake unable to extend his body high enough.

"Nice little trick there," Brock said, "but let's see how you like Onix's Bind!"

"You can't reach Paige from up there!" Alaska snapped back. "Fire a Gust and blow this competition away!"

"That's what you think," Brock called out, and Alaska looked at Onix, taken aback by his words. She didn't think it would be possible, but she watched in shock as Onix coiled his body up like a gigantic rock spring, and suddenly launched himself upwards.

"Pidge Pidgey Otto Pidge!" Pidgeotto squealed, flapping her wings in a frantic manner, managing to unleash some wind, but to Alaska it looked as if Pidgeotto was merely trying to shoo Onix away from her.

"Fly away!" Alaska screamed, but it was too late: Onix did a magnificent coiling motion, like he was a giant rocky ribbon that Brock was twirling through the air, and wrapped tightly around Paige's lower body. Her wings were free but Paige was unable to move, being carried back down to the field by Onix and his weight, the tip of his tail stopping them from crash landing.

"PIDGEEEEE!" She screamed, trying to pull free, but Onix simply held on tighter now he was back on the ground. Alaska watched her flailing and squirming, wondering how long Onix would be able to hang on for: if he kept her in his clutches, than the battle could easily be over soon. There was only one move that could work, and that was a new move Paige had learnt in her evolution. Alaska had wanted to test it out, but her desire to defeat Brock distracted her, but if Paige could pull it off now, the win was hers.

"Tight spot you're in," Brock called out, still smirking. "Not many Pokemon are able to win after Onix gets them in their holds! It would be very hard to dodge a Rock Slide now, wouldn't it?"

"Oh shut it!" Alaska snapped, tempted to pull the brownies out and give him a good thrashing, but Onix was already acting, thrashing his tail. Paige had stopped fighting, simply staring towards the raising rocks with a worried look in her eye, and than staring at Alaska with pitiful eyes, almost as if she was apologising. Alaska couldn't let either of them give up yet, and knew they had to try the move.

"TWISTER, NOW!" Alaska screamed. It was an almost perfect move for the Bind: Onix wrapped so tightly around her, the Twister would be able to cause maximum damage. Brock did look a little scared as Paige wiggled and turned her body as much as she could, flapping her wings and trying to generate enough power. The rocks were getting higher though, and Alaska had her fingers crossed, watching as purple energy was beginning to swirl around. Paige's feet were wriggling, and her body was beginning to twist more, just as the rocks began to fall… more energy was forming and spiralling… Alaska and Brock both watched nervously, the outcome surely to affect the battle…

"PIIIDDDGEEEEEEE!" Paige screamed, and broke free in the nick of time. A giant purple Twister erupted around her, blasting through the rocks like a fabulous little piece of convenience. Brock cursed as Alaska cheered, and the spiralling Twister began to send Onix spinning. He seemed too stunned to make any noise, simply rotating around, unable to pull away as sand and loose rocks were sent flying around the gym. After a few moments Paige came to a stop, and Onix fell straightened out and looking rather surprised against the ground.

"Pidgey Pidge!" Paige called out, still spinning slightly from the attack, and Alaska hoped she wasn't confused. She looked down at Onix and saw his eyes were spinning: at least he was confused as well.

"Get a grip and use Tackle!" Brock ordered, his smirk disappearing as he realised the threat that Alaska and Paige could pose, and Alaska beamed widely: they stood a shot.

"Quick Attack and hit him in the eye, than fly around the gym!" She called out. Paige stopped spinning stupidly and nodded, moving forwards like a bullet, the glowing energy wrapping around her. The speedy attack hit Onix directly in his spinning eyes, and he roared loudly and reared upwards, his right eye now firmly shut and the roar causing the entire building to shake.

"You still have one eye!" Brock cried out almost desperately, but as Onix tried to stare around with his left, Paige was too busy darting high above Onix, moving from corner to corner too quickly to manage. She suddenly dived down towards a rock, and Onix quickly bounded forwards, only to fall into Paige's trick. A large rock formation was shattered, and Brock cursed again as Paige soared high above.

"ROCK SLIDE!" Brock bellowed in his desperation.

"Steel Wing, finish this now!" Alaska yelled out. Onix tried to move, but Paige was too close and too fast: Alaska and Brock both watched in shock (happy and angry shock respectively) as the glowing wings smashed into Onix's middle. He let out a furious but weak roar as he rolled over, his tail coming close to hitting Alaska, before collapsing into the sand. Paige landed on a rock in front of Alaska, and the two stared simultaneously at Onix, before looking back towards each other, their smiles unmistakable, their happiness unable to be hidden as they realised what had just been accomplished…

**I decided to save Alaska's reaction for her blog, which is coming up next, as that would probably get her emotions across better. There will still be plenty of witty jives taken at Brock though, so don't worry ;) Expect that part in about a fortnight. **


	22. Blog 4: Celebrate the Good Times

**Blog Four: Celebrate the Good Times**

BOOYAH!

I did it everyone, I finally did it! THE BOULDER BADGE IS ALL MIIIIIIIIIIIINE! MWAHAHA, I'M NOW ONE STEP CLOSER TO WORLD DOMINATION – I mean, getting to the Indigo League… of course that's what I meant!

Al crazy capslocking aside, I did manage to win my first Kanto gym badge, and I couldn't be happier! Not only did I manage to defeat both of Brock's Pokemon (a Geodude who doesn't like my families baking and an Onix, a Pokemon that is frankly a very dirty innuendo in my mind), but PAIGE, the NORMAL FLYING type, managed to win it for me! I should probably mention the fact she evolved – Paige evolved to Pidgeotto ;)

It was a breath taking battle. Darwin squared off against Geodude, and was able to use all that Mankeying around he does to his advantage and hopped around like his feet were springs, dodging practically every move and getting some powerful hits in. Unfortunately for him, Onix proved too strong and Darwin came crashing down. My only hope left was my feathery new Pidgeotto, and Paige proved herself well: she struggled a bit at first, but used her Steel Wing with excellent precision and execution and her new Twister move to perfection to secure us a win, and I couldn't be prouder or her or Darwin: they both did such an amazing job that I think I'll give them some of my brownies as a treat – Oh, they don't look too happy at that idea. I'll find something at the bottom of my bag they can eat….

But the best part would have to be the look on Brock's face when I won. He had being all arrogant about the fact I only had two Pokemon and one of them was a Flying type, and acted as if he was the flashest thing since sliced bread. Well, I must see that added to my joy when Onix fell down in defeat, and Brock looked as if he had just been slapped in the face. He tried to keep all calm and sensible when he handed over the badge and the TM, and I simply smiled and showed him my most courteous side – I think that would have pissed him off more than a comeback, as I think he wanted a chance to get a comeback in. But I'm not just a one trick pony, my glorious readers – I'm a two trick pony, and keep that in mind. I'm sure Brock was when I left the building, as he seemed to be glaring at me when I left. Well, I think he was glaring. His eyelids never seem to move that much… maybe if he had them open more often, he might actually win occasionally – OOOH, BURN, THAT'S RIGHT, I WENT THERE! (Damn… my rapper personality keeps lingering…)

But though this day was full of highs, there had to be some sort of low.

You have probably all heard about the incident at the museum – some guy held some people hostage and detonated a bomb. Thankfully, no one was killed – thanks to me, I say boastfully (but seriously, someone send me a hero sandwich.) But I did have to face of against this completely insane guy called Gideon, who wanted to steal some machines and the fossils. He was obviously off his nutter, possibly on drugs or something, and I wasn't going to think much about things until he brought his bomb out. I didn't think until then that this guy was a real threat, but hearing him speak and the fact he had a deadly weapon… it was seriously freaky. Than Gideon sort of hissed at me that I was involved a game now and that I should be prepared for the consequences of today's actions.

I didn't stay to linger back there, due to the very large threat of the bomb and the very large thought in my mind that I should be getting the hell out of there, but after I defeated Brock and did my victory dance of delight outside, I began to think about things. Is this incident involved with the robotic Beedrill back in Viridian Forest? I think Gideon was a scientist, so perhaps he is trying to create a huge army of PokeBots… I really don't know! I just know that things aren't all that they seem in Kanto at the moment: one or possibly two or possibly more things are going down, the likes we haven't seen since Team Rocket. I'm going to be on the lookout for any more dodgy going on's, but if any of you see anything, make sure to let me know!

So when you are off at the local bar, park, milkshake bar, wherever you crazy kids hang out these days, and are celebrating my fantastic win, make sure you are on the lookout for a giant Robo-Golem terrorizing your neighbourhood and scaring your grandma's. I think I saw those reality stars lingering around, so I'm going to get out of Pewter before their filth and annoyingness poisons the local water supply, just like all reality star's do. I'll let you all know how I get on in Mt Moon (hopefully sans-terrorist drama) and will be back with more excitement!

Until next time my dearest, darlingest readers!

Alaska Acevedo, Slayer of Rock Snakes

(P.S. Take my experience as a warning: never go to museums! You may not die from an explosion, but if Gideon hadn't shown up, I'm sure I would have died of boredom. The only highlight was this sexy guy I met: I don't usually fall for guys like this, but DAAAAAMN (sorry, gangsta personality again) this guy was smokin' hot! I know understand why my mother watches all this romantic comedies, as men are pretty sexy beasts. This guy is definitely the hottest I've seen so far on my journey, not that he has any competition (that means YOU MR SQUINTY!). Well… no competition, really, but that's a story for another time, such as when I'm asleep. STOP PRYING INTO MY PRIVATE LIVES! *glares at you all*)

P.P.S: Write shorter P.S' next time, because my fingers are bloody sore! I need gloves, or lotion…

**Been edited to include "BOOYAH" at the top. It was a lot longer originally - I didn't think that would be censored amongst some of the other stuff I've written in other stories**


	23. Interlude 3: Thoughts of a Champion

**Interlude Three: Thoughts of a Champion**

As Red stared at the television, he reminded himself that there was a reason he had stopped watching the news.

He was sitting alone in the bottom floor of the Champion's House, a four storey building built into the mountains that surrounded the Indigo Plateau. It was regularly refurbished as part of the league's way of satisfying its champion, and Red currently rested upon one of three identical black leather couches, his attention focused upon a plasma television that was the same height as him. A very flash, very metallic kitchen rested behind him, and an oak dining table, several extremely cluttered desks, a Pinball machine and floor to ceiling glass doors that lead outside were all placed behind him. It was a very nice house, much nicer than anything Red had ever stayed in before, but he quickly got bored with the things down here and spent most of the time he wasn't battling or travelling on promotional tours training with his Pokemon in an expansive training facility upstairs, the only place were he truly felt himself.

But for now, the television screen was finally giving him something worth watching, even if he didn't want to know about it.

The reporter, a man in a crisp suit, was standing outside of the Pewter City Museum, discussing how a mad man with a gun had threatened to shoot several people, including Red's friend Mark Hansom, and was apparently looking for technology and several fossils. It cut to shoots taken on a tourist's video camera that had been playing when a bomb exploded, causing everyone to panic, an image of something large falling from the blast. It then cut to footage of the fossil display, the reporter explaining how a young girl had fought off the man but prevented him from planting a bomb. Red watched as the camera showed large holes in the walls and floor, the remainder burnt black. The displays lay in ruins on the floor, with several police officers taking pictures of them before the museum staff could move them away.

"_This __has __been __a __terrible __tragedy, __especially __after __all __the __hard __work __we __had __put __into __finding __these __fossils,__"_ Mark was telling the reporter, his usual handsome features dishevelled.

"_What __about __these __rumours __of __a __teenage __girl __fighting __off __this __man?__" _The reporter asked, but Mark simply shook his head in response.

"_I __refuse __to __confirm __or __deny __anything __of __that __nature,__" _Mark replied, and the image cut back to the reporter outside the museum, giving the latest details to the newsreader back home. Red listened to these facts, but nothing of interest came through, and he simply sighed and turned the television off, leaning back into the couch and groaning.

"Three years… this was all meant to be over!" He groaned, and angrily lashed out at the table in front of him. Several magazines Leaf had left out with him on the cover fell to the floor, and Red was tempted to tear them in two, but knew his girlfriend wouldn't appreciate that much. He wondered where she was at this moment, wheter she and Janine were watching the news together and how they would react to the news that peace was once again slipping away.

Red leapt to his feet, knowing that he had to do something. Rumours of plots and plans had been revolving around for months, ever since that reality show had been announced. Red hadn't liked the sound of it, but the league officials had approved it without his consideration, thinking it would be good publicity. Then there had been whispers of disturbances around Chrono Island over the past few days, and the incident with the robotic Beedrill had sent alarm bells ringing, but the Champion hadn't done anything about it yet. It was his job to help protect Kanto against all threats, and it was time he put things into action.

_Playing __the __hero __now, __are __we? _A voice laughed from the corner as Red reached across for a remote. He rolled his eyes as he pressed a button, turning the television screen into computer mode.

"I don't have time for your views at the moment," Red called out as he walked up to the computer and brought up a series of files: documents, a special version of the PC Storage System, e-mail and a webcam application. His Lapras smiled as she propelled herself forwards with her flippers, a thin layer of ice forming on the carpet.

_What __exactly __are __you __planning __on __doing? _She asked. _I __know __you __think __Gideon __is __involved, __but __has __Mark __contacted __you __yet?__Racing __off __into __battle __could __prove __dangerous__ – __you __should __take __slow __steps._

"I would agree with you if I wasn't already running behind," Red replied. He was already opening all files in the system about Gideon, and was checking his emails for any contact, but it seemed Mark was too busy sorting things out in his court to contact Red. "The girl can't get caught in whatever is going on. We must make sure she gets the proper protection," Red explained, and Lapras simply nodded as she came up alongside.

_If __your __going __to __protect __her, __there__'__s __only __one __route __you __can __go __down, _She said, and Red sighed and nodded in response. He pulled up the log PC Box and moved it across to the right section, which showed only two Pokemon were located here. Red pressed a button, causing a box to pop up and he typed in several passwords as a laser overhead scanned down his body. The screen shuddered slightly, and suddenly an Ultra and a Master Ball appeared in a slot to the side. Red reached forwards and picked the two containers up, staring down at them as his fingers hovered over the buttons.

_You __need __to __do __it, _Lapras thought._They __won__'__t __get __captured __this __time.__The __girl __needs __protection. _Red simply nodded, still shaking slightly as he threw the balls to a clear space. Light lit up the dark room, and Red and Lapras simply watched as the magnificent electric bird Zapdos and the soulful water beast Suicune formed in front of them, sparkles emitting from their legendary bodies. Zapdos stretched her wings out to full height and Suicune shook back his long mane, staring around the flash building. Red smiled warmly at them, realising how long a time it had been since he had trusted himself to send them out again. But he slowly walked back to the screen and touched another file, causing an email he had received earlier in the day to appear. It was a security image, showing a girl in jeans and a red shirt, a wide smile on her face as she departed Pewter Gym with a Pidgeotto, no idea of the danger she'd put herself in.

Her name was Alaska Acevedo.

"This girl needs your protection," Red told to his two legendary Pokemon, and they both nodded. "Find her and watch her from a far. Make sure no one harmful gets near her, and do your best not to lose her: she could be the key to stopping what's about to happen in Kanto, and I know several people would gladly have her suffer an accident." Zapdos and Suicune nodded, and turned around without another remark. Red knew they were a bit grumpy about being left in their PokeBalls, and hoped they would be able to forgive him after this.

Lapras' eyes flashed pink, and the doors magically opened. Suicune sprinted off and leapt off the balcony, whilst Zapdos took a running start before taking off into the sky. Red and Lapras moved onto the deck that went around the entire bottom floor, watching as Zapdos flew off into the sunset and Suicune ran swiftly down the mountainside. From up here, Red could see the borders of Johto to one end, with wide oceans in between,CinnabarIslandfar in the distance, all the way across to Viridian andVermillionCities. The view was spectacular, with the golden and pink sunset casting beautiful light across the regions, but Red knew that in a few weeks, it could all be ruined.

_Do you think this girl will be able to stop them? _Lapras asked. Red stared towards the stadium, the very stadium he had defended himself for so many years, and the surrounding area that had nearly been destroyed.

"I can only hope so. She's the only damn hope we have," he sighed, and walked back into his living area, needing to contact Leaf, Professor Oak and Mark Hansom, and whoever else could help. He needed all possible help: if the rumours were true, he was going to be dead in only a few weeks.

Panic echoed around the Dragon's Den.

None of the people that lived and worked here had ever seen something like this before, not in many years. The many robed people, wearing different colours depending on their ranks and jobs, were fleeing back into their makeshift wooden houses scattered across the rocky area, many people screaming or gathering together children or bundles, not wanting to leave anything behind. They continued to stare back towards the source of their fright: blue lightning bolts exploding out of the house where Clair, the Dragon Elder and elite members slept. The bolts were shooting across the entire den, causing the stalactites on the roof to shudder and shake, and the Dratini, Horsea, Dragonair and Seadra that lived in the blue crystal lake to hide under rocks and in caves. It was like a fireworks display gone wrong, and people could only wonder what was causing it.

Inside the giant central house, things were a lot worse.

Clair, the Blackthorn City Gym Leader, marched determinedly through the many hallways, pushing past people in magnificent purple robes that were fleeing from the central room. The entire building was shaking, but Clair didn't care about the building that she had lived in for her entire life: she knew what was causing this, and it had to stop before it got out of hand.

"Clair, what's going on?" A voice whined behind her, but Clair simply waved a hand at her nephew Kieran as she turned a corner, finding the corridor into the central room, where all important meetings and ceremonies took place, crowded.

"Out of my way!" Clair shouted, and people parted as she continued to march through. The heavy wooden doors were closed, but the blue lightning was glowing through and threatening to blast them down. "Spike, what's going on?" A black haired teenager, aged 18, appeared at her side, his spiky hair clashing horribly with his purple robes, but he had long stopped caring about this and stared at Clair with a grim look. "Is the Elder in there?" Spike looked a bit awkward, and Clair began to seize up, giving him a look that resembled that of her Salamance.

"Yes… there was a blue flash and the doors suddenly closed, and it's been shaking ever since," Spike explained. "We've tried opening, but it doesn't seem to be working. "

"You just need to try harder!" Clair roared, and she threw a PokeBall onto the ground. People cleared out of the way as her Dragonite formed, staring between Clair and the shaking doors with an anxious look. "HYPER BEAM, NOW!" Clair screamed, unable to contain herself any longer. Spike gasped, but stepped backwards as Dragonite instantly obeyed his trainer, the energy quickly forming in his mouth. The magnificent doors, many designs of Dragon Pokemon etched into the wood, had been standing for hundreds of years, but it took Dragonite only one second to blast them backwards. The wood moved inwards with the force of the attack, but the blue lightning sent them straight backwards, causing everyone to scream and dodge, the wood tearing straight through the opposite wall. Clair ignored the damage, and peered into the central room, ignoring the lightning flying through, and stared in with horror.

The entire room was glowing blue, lightning bolts emitting from the very center and flying around. All lights had smashed and candles extinguished, the mural on the wall was being burnt, and all the cushions had exploded into bundles of feathers. The only human in there was a short elderly man, lying face down on the floor, not appearing to move. The only other figure was the creature causing all of this, who floated in the middle of the room, glowing a violent blue and staring around peacefully, unaware of the damage he was causing.

"Latios!" Clair gasped, grasping onto the doorway and edging herself forwards. The Eon Pokemon turned towards her and seemed to float backwards, almost in fright. "Latios, you have been dormant for four years, why do you awaken now? Why are you causing this destruction to our home?" Latios stared back at her, still floating towards the glassless windows, apparently in confusion.

_I __appreciate __your __hospitality,_He said inside all of their heads, and Clair and Spike both screamed, collapsing to the ground and clutching their ears, h_owever, __I __must __go __now. __I __need __to __find __my __true __master, __a __master __I __should __have __found __a __long __time __ago. __Please __make __sure __the __Crystal __gets __to __them__… __thank __you. _Without another word, Latios turned and headed through the windows, taking all of the lightning with them. Clair looked up, the pain in her head lessening, and could see a blue blur heading towards the only entrance and exit, flying away to another life. She leant against the frame in shock, unable to take any of it in. All of these years they had spent caring for Latios' Enigma Crystal, all of this spent to make sure it remained safe… all worthless.

"Clair…," a weak voice sounded, and Clair turned around in shock, towards the man lying on the floor.

"Grandfather!" She gasped and rushed forwards, Spike and Dragonite at her heels as always. The Dragon Elder had been growing older and weaker over the past few months, the strength he had once had slowly slipping away. As he lay there, slowly turning painfully onto his back, Clair could see it in his sunken, shaking face that he wasn't going to pull through this.

"Grandfather, are there any potions we can use, any remedies?" The gym leader asked as tears began to form in her eyes, clutching her grandfather's hands. The Elder simply smiled up at her and gripped back onto her hands.

"It seems it is my time to go, just like it was Latios'," the old man said, and Clair held on tightly, shaking her head as the tears began to stream. "Clair, you must keep the Dragon's Den alive. It needs someone like you to run it, and you're our only hope. But most importantly, you must make sure Latios is not harmed. He may have led to my death coming only a few weeks, possibly even a few days or hours early, but his destined trainer needs him…" The Elder collapsed backwards onto the floor, his grip loosening off Clair's hands, and the gym leader began to sob as he she continued to hold her grandfather's dead hands. Spike simply turned around in respect to give her privacy, while her Dragonite bent down and gave his trainer a hug. Something glittered slightly on the floor, and Spike bent down to pick up the object lying on the carpet: a beautiful stone, coloured almost silver with a glowing blue crystal enclosed in the middle. There appeared to be a crack running through it, and Spike had seen the sister of this Enigma Crystal and knew the crack wasn't an identical thing.

Whoever Latios' destined trainer was, the Eon Pokemon seemed very eager to get to them, and Spike had been involved in these things long enough to know that wasn't good news.

**Hopefully, this interlude wasn't too confusing for any of you. Things will make more sense in time, so bare with me! This Red can be seen in Red vs Leaf, but due to their roles in this story, I am rewriting Red vs Leaf into The First Warriors, a series that will detail their adventures with Blue and against Team Rocket in more depth. Red vs Leaf didn't provide the write background for 8ES, so hopefully the new series shall fix that. Also, Clair, Spike, Latios and the Dragon Elder can be seen in Kris vs Gold, if anyone is interested. I write my stories all in same universe (The GalacticVerse) and I don't know if you've all read every other story, so I simply do this to let you know where they can be found to prevent otherwise confusion. **


	24. Chapter 16: This Place Needs a Sweep

**Chapter Sixteen: This Place Needs a Sweep**

"So…. This is Mt Moon... boooooriiiing."

Alaska giggled to herself as her voice echoed around the cavern, but as that faded away, she was left standing alone in the semi darkness, staring around at what she could see of Mt Moon, and was highly unimpressed.

It had been two days since winning the Boulder Badge and leaving Pewter City. Alaska had quickly been in a high over her win, and was tempted to find the reality stars and rub her win in their faces, possibly getting Paige to re-enact hitting Onix in the eye with Chloe. However, after moving along Route 3, Alaska began to feel her spirits lessen. Yes, she was extremely glad to have proved herself and won the first badge, but there were still seven more badges to collect: Cascade, Thunder, Rainbow, Soul, Marsh, Volcano and Earth . Completing this task wasn't going to be easy, and Alaska needed to train harder, get some more Pokemon and do her best to keep her goal going, rather than build up from one relatively easy win and expect the other leaders to fall at her feet.

However, Alaska had at least hoped for something a bit more interesting than this.

Mt Moon looked extraordinary from the outside: a tall, beautiful peak that was about the size of a six storey office building. It's brown rock with foliage dotted around made for a picturesque setting, but it was simply a mask over what the inside held.

Alaska had heard that half of the mountain had caved in back in 2008 due to an incident involving Team Rocket, but she had hoped that things would be fixed by then. Instead lamps were positioned around, casting dim yellow light over signs reading "WARNING: ROCKS FALL WITHOUT WARNING" and "STAY TO THE DESIGNATED PATH", with an arrow pointed towards a path formed by wooden barriers leading past the fallen rocks. Mot of the rocks had been cleared away, but still huge piles of the stuff formed threatening figures all around the area, and half of the cave was still inaccessible. The strict path would take Alaska away from exploring any part of the mountain, and, more importantly, removed a chance of catching any more Pokemon.

"I doubt there are even any more rocks to fall," Alaska grumbled as she stepped gingerly forwards, peering upwards as far as she could with the dim light at her disposal. "What sort of rock takes five years to fall down!" As she spoke, there was a crunching sound, and Alaska had only a second to move before a stalactite crashed into the spot where she had just been standing, the pointed rock shattered to rubble. "Alright… I guess that one then…," Alaska muttered, clutching her heart. She stared back towards the white and red striped safety barriers marking out the safest route, and suddenly found it looking a lot more attractive.

"I can always catch a Pokemon on Route 4. I doubt any of the Pokemon in here would be good for the Cerulean Gym anyway," Alaska reassured herself, and began heading down the barriers. Alaska may do stupid things and break the rules from time to time, but she wasn't going to walk through an unstable environment and risk getting her head crushed by a falling rock.

"Chloe could walk through here with peace of mind, I doubt falling rocks would do anything to her," Alaska said aloud, and begin to laugh to herself as she headed towards a carved tunnel. Her laughter echoed around once more, and Alaska realised that if someone else was in this mountain, they would definitely be making noise. "HELLOOOO, IS ANYONE THERE!" She called out, and listened as her voice echoed in the silence. Alaska laughed and leaned against the barriers, thinking she could have a bit of fun with this. "My name is AH-LASS-KAH AC-AH-VE-DOH!" She shouted, and heard the mountain send it straight back to her. "This mountain isn't very interesting! Hmmm… I need something funny… oooh! LIVE FROM VIRIDIAN CITY, IT'S SATURDAY –"

"AAAAAAAHHH!"  
The scream was louder than anything Alaska had heard, and she turned around to try and find the source of the noise. The scream sounded again and again, and Alaska quickly realised it was coming from behind the piles of rubble in front of her. A roar sounded up from behind them, followed by a crash that caused dust to trickle down from the ceiling.

"Oh shit," Alaska said, and quickly leapt over the barriers. More dust trickled down, and another series of rocks smashed into the ground only a few metres away. Alaska looked upwards, knowing it was extremely dangerous to go charging into something dangerous in such a dangerous environment, but as the scream sounded again, she knew she had to help. Scrambling up the miniature mountain of rocks, which slipped away beneath her feet, Alaska pulled her PokeBalls out, ready to defend whoever was screaming. But as she reached the top, small cuts on her hands and a tear in her jeans, Alaska wasn't expecting what she saw.

An Onix was staring directly at her.

Now, Alaska had never seen Onix as being particularly frightening Pokemon. She had always seen it as a moving pile of rocks that wouldn't do much harm to a girl, and she had always viewed it as a bit of a challenge as a child to try and scale its rocky surface. And after defeating Brock's Onix, Alaska didn't think that one would ever cause her to become frightened.

However, this one was not an ordinary Onix. As it moved backwards, leering down at her, Alaska saw that its head was nearly touching the cave roof, yet half of its body was still touching the ground. This was an Onix supersized: its body was the width of three skyscrapers and the length of two piled on top of each other, with a face so big you could probably land an airplane on their. Alaska looked down at her two PokeBalls and knew that this Onix could probably gobble them up without even having to open its enormous mouth fully. The Rock Snake sneered down at Alaska before letting out another roar, which was much more powerful up close, and Alaska had to clung to a large boulder to stop herself flying backwards.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Alaska yelled, her heart racing. "I'll just go now, leave you to eat whoever that was screaming. Maybe it was your girlfriend or maybe your mother, forget to clean the dishes eh? Naughty boy… ha ha… whoever it is, I probably don't know them and it doesn't even matter!"

"Alaska? Is that Alaska? OI, ALASKA, HI!" A voice yelled out, and Alaska, who had been about to turn around and jump off the rubble, froze in her movements. She let out an angry sigh and glanced back around, wishing she could just ignore who it was and leave them to battle against this large freak of a Pokemon, but Alaska couldn't bring herself to do it and cursed her big heart and general kindness to those who helped her escape from gigantic robotic Pokemon.

"Hi Sandy," Alaska called, and tried to spot the blonde haired girl, but she was nowhere to be spotted. But than the Onix swivelled its body, and Alaska's jaw dropped as she finally spotted her: Sandy was sitting on Onix's body, waving brightly up at Alaska.

"What the hell are you doing there?"

"Battling of course, you big silly!" Sandy laughed. There was a fluttering nearby, and Alaska turned in time to see Butterfree flying past, diving straight towards Onix. It looked as if she was colliding with it, but Onix let out a sudden roar and tipped backwards, much to Alaska's surprise.

"Brilliant Bug Bite!" Sandy shouted, and Alaska was even more shocked: how was the bug move doing any harm to the Onix? "Confusion again, I think we nearly have it!" Butterfree nodded back, and Alaska could see her eyes light up across the dark cave. Onix let out another roar as his body quivered, and he suddenly began smashing his head into the wall.

"Frankly, I'm confused," Alaska grumbled, and went to sit down on the boulder to watch the proceedings. However, the rocks beneath her feet didn't seem willing to hold her up: she screamed as there was suddenly nothing beneath her feet, and Alaska began sliding down the hill of rocks, unable to stop herself. Her feet smashed into the solid ground, and Alaska flew upwards before sprawling forwards, her hands being scraped along the ground as she tried to save herself.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" Sandy screeched, and Alaska raised a bloody thumbs up to her and rolled onto her back, reflecting on how things could have gone much better if she had just walked through the tunnel rather than try to have a laugh. She looked up to see Onix was roaring right above her, and realised that a rock could very easily fall down and crush her and she wouldn't even bother moving.

"Move aside Butterfree, it is catching time!" Sandy shouted, and Alaska glanced around as a Great Ball soared through the air. There was no way such a tiny thing would be able to hold a beast as tall and wide as this, but Alaska watched as Onix's final roar was cut off, his body turning blue and being sucked inside. The Great Ball fell down, and Alaska realised too late it would land on her. It managed to wind her as it hit her stomach, and Alaska gasped for breath as it rolled on her stomach.

"OH MY GOD, I'M SO SORRY!" Sandy screeched, rushing forwards and grabbing the Great Ball as it clicked, signalling a successful capture. "I feel so terrible! You must have heard me scream and come to my rescue, didn't you? Oh, your such a good person, and I'm so awful, and –"

"Sandy, just shut up," Alaska groaned as she got to her feet, examining the blood oozing from her hands as she put them to her stomach. "It's not your fault, it's all mine for trying to play the hero. Next time I hear someone screaming, I'm just going to walk away and alert the police, cause frankly, I don't want to nearly get blown up or fall down any more rock hills again."

"Blown up?" Sandy asked curiously, but Alaska simply shook her head.

"Don't worry about it," she said, and put a smile on her face. "Congratulations on your capture, but what on earth gave you the urge to battle such a large Pokemon?" Sandy exchanged a sheepish look with Butterfree before looking back guiltily.

"Well, I didn't know it was an Onix…," she said, and Alaska let out another laugh that echoed around the chamber, realising she should have expected an answer like this. "I've just been travelling around for a few hours and felt like a rest, so I sat down on what I thought was some sort of designer bench! However, Onix then roared, I screamed and sent Butterfree out in an instant, and, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time to battle him, so Butterfree sent out a few Confusions and a Bug Bite. He may look tough, but I think he's just a bit of a baby at heart."

"Just what the world needs: a giant, immature Onix at your faithful hands," Alaska said with a smile, and Sandy and Butterfree both giggled. "Well, once again, good on you for capturing it! Now, I really need to focus on stopping this bleeding… you wouldn't happen to have any bandages, would you?"

"OH MY GOD, PRETTY!"

"I guess not then," Alaska sighed, but Sandy wasn't focusing, instead turning away from Alaska and focusing on something else. Alaska glanced around to see what it was: a trio of pink Clefairy, skipping off into the distance. "How cute. Now, about my hands…"

"I want one!" Sandy said, speaking more to Butterfree than Alaska.

"Free Free," Butterfree responded, staring pointedly at Alaska, but Sandy didn't pick up on the hint.

"Yes, of course their free," Sandy said, rolling her eyes. She replaced her new Great Ball with an empty one, and quickly ran after them. Butterfree gave Alaska an apologetic look, and she simply nodded, having expected this sort of airy behaviour from Sandy after their last meeting.

"We might as well make sure nothing happens to her," Alaska said, and she and Butterfree hurried after her. However, it took less than half a minute to catch up, as they found Sandy standing at a large hole, clearly some sort of entrance.

"They all ran up here," Sandy said, sounding disappointed, and Alaska and Butterfree stared up to see the hole lead to a large circular tunnel, moving upwards to a small amount of light in the distance. Sandy sighed, looking extremely dejected, and Alaska couldn't help but feel sorry for her, and mentally sighed as her voicebox acted before her brain did.

"Why don't we head up, see where they went to?" She suggested, and Sandy's face instantly lit up. Butterfree gave Alaska a look that she interpreted to be the bug version of saying 'Stuff you', but Alaska simply shrugged back as Sandy quickly dived in.

"Come on then, let's get going!" She called. Alaska sighed and nodded, and climbed in after Butterfree. Her stomach and hands still hurt, and her jeans were torn in several places and weren't particularly good for climbing, but Alaska simply decided to persevere, secretly interested to see what other Pokemon might be waiting at the end of the tunnel.


	25. Chapter 17: Kicking your Competition

**Chapter Seventeen: Climbing the Ladder of Success, and Kicking Your Competition in the Face As You Do So **

The tunnel was long and difficult to climb, especially if your hands had just been treated to a lovely hand scraping, and Alaska found herself struggling to climb up. It was getting increasingly steep, and Alaska didn't want to crawl with her injured hands, forcing her to try and walk up the increasing slope. She refused to look backwards, knowing that the long distance they had travelled would only cause unnecessary upset and worry about having yet another injury today.

"So Sandy, how have you been since we last met?" Alaska called out, trying to keep her focused. Sandy seemed very absorbed in her quest to find the Clefairy, her attention focused entirely forwards as she crawled along the ground, and it took three slaps by Butterfree's wings to remember there were other people in the tunnel.

"Oh, me? Nothing that exciting," Sandy replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "Did a bit of shopping, roamed around Viridian Forest and Pewter City, and then I arrived here last night. Floor was a bit bumpy, I wouldn't recommend sleeping on it."

"Didn't plan to," Alaska replied. "I managed to win a gym battle, which is always nice to get free jewellery, but before that a lovely man tried to blow me to bits, which is always a nice way to get rid of a cold." Sandy glanced around, looking a bit confused, and Alaska recounted what had happened at Pewter Museum as they continued to climb up the long, slowly lightening tunnel.

"Oh my goodness!" Sandy gasped, coming to a sudden pause that nearly caused Alaska to trip over her. "I can't believe you went through that! Maybe you're a bad luck charm, and madmen and robots are just going to keep killing you until one of them finally blows your brains out!" She continued, looking shocked, and Alaska simply gave her a bemused look.

"Yes, I'm sure that's what's going to happen to me," she said, nodding and smiling, and Sandy continued to crawl, muttering about the horrors robots posed to Kanto. Alaska simply chuckled under her breath, rather glad to have some company with her. Sandy was very nice and kind hearted, even if she was a bit clumsy and dim on occasions, and Alaska appreciated having someone other than herself to talk to.

They climbed in the silence for the next five minutes, and the light at the end of the tunnel began to grow rapidly in this time. Sandy moved quickly, getting more excited as they reached the end, while Alaska simply looked forward to find a nice flat rock to flop down on and heal her hands, possibly squeeze some training in while Sandy messed around with the Clefairy.

"Here we go!" Sandy called excitedly as the conclusion of the tunnel finally appeared. Butterfree fluttered out first, and Sandy leapt outwards, and Alaska simply stepped out and breathed in rapidly, stretching her arms wide.

"FREEDOM!" She boomed, and turned around, standing in awe of the view they'd walked into. Mt Moon was the tallest mountain in Kanto, and it gave a splendid view over all of Kanto: Alaska could see Pewter, Viridian and Pewter to one side, while Cerulean, Saffron and Vermillion stretched far into the distance on the other side. Celadon and the Cycling Road were in the middle, and the distant figures of Lavender and Fuchsia joined the view. The ocean sparkled magically as the sun slowly began to set, and a light breeze swept across Alaska, stinging the injured parts of her body but seemed to wash away the other pain at the same time. It was like standing on top of the world, even if some skyscrapers were now taller than it now, and Alaska simply breathed in the magic and the beauty, turning with a wide smile to see what Sandy felt about this gorgeous view.

However, Sandy wasn't standing in front of her, and the new view wasn't that glorious.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Chloe Carmichael snapped, and Alaska instantly looked around at the edge they were standing next to, wondering how much joy shoving Chloe off Mt Moon would give her.

"I believe that Mt Moon is public property, Chloe deary," Alaska responded, thinking back to television specials about gravity and the weight of things adding to how fast they fell. She glanced around to see that other familiar faces were there: Damian and Lachlan were looking rather confused, whilst Amanda Anderson was furious calling someone on her cellphone, death boiling in her eyes. "What are you lot doing here then?"

"We're doing one of our challenges to win TM's and other prizes," Damian responded, and Alaska nodded, pleased to be listening to him than the other two. "We're doing something with the Clefairy, and –"

"DON'T tell them that!" Amanda shrieked, marching furiously over. She glared towards Alaska and Sandy, who was hovering fearfully behind Alaska, and seemed to be clutching her phone liked a grenade. "They might go on the internet and spoil the show! This is supposed to be a private set!"

"As I said before, this mountain's public property," Alaska hissed back, and decided to add insult to injury, "honey, unless your executives didn't tell you that." Amanda looked deadly, ignoring the fact that Damian, Lachlan and the film crew were silently giggling behind her.

"Go back to your fat arsed father, Avocado!" Chloe hissed, and Alaska whipped back towards her, angrily reaching for her PokeBalls. "Unless you want to battle me for your right to stay here!"

"Bring it!" Alaska hissed and threw her PokeBalls in Chloe's face. Chloe and Amanda both screamed as they burst open, and Paige and Darwin suddenly formed on her rival's body. Alaska burst out laughing as they clung on, causing Chloe to scream and run around. Alaska was sensitive about her father and his health and vow and silence, and being provoked by her wasn't something she needed.

"PIDGEOTTO!" Paige shrieked, and pushed Chloe away with her wings, and Amanda quickly caught her. Alaska nodded down at her Pokemon as they came back towards her, Paige joining Butterfree for a mid-air catch up. Amanda and Chloe remained between Alaska and the rest of their show crew, tension bubbling between them all. Alaska took the silence to examine the area they had entered. It was a relatively flat land, with some grass in the corners and a closed down shop nearby, wood boarded over all the doors and windows. The mountain's peak continued around them, and to Alaska it almost looked as if a large chunk of the mountain had been very smoothly carved away, leaving them with this area they currently had.

However, the main feature of this area was right at the other end.

A crater curved downwards, looking like it had happened more naturally than the mountain's carving. In the very center for something of pure beauty: a dazzling black rock, about the size of a small car, rested in the very middle. Possibly it had fallen from the sky and was the cause of the crater, Alaska didn't know, but she wanted to go out and touch it, as it looked just beautiful.

"Clefairy!" Sandy gasped and pointed, and Alaska looked around to see that the pink pixie-like Pokemon were emerging from the bushes. There must have been about a dozen of them, all skipping and smiling, moving down into the crater. As the sun continued to set, taking all light with it, more Clefairy emerged until there were about twenty, all moving down into the crater.

"Damnit," Amanda cursed glaring angrily around at everyone there. "We need to keep going with our mission… if you two are going to linger, just linger out of the way and don't interrupt our filming, or you'll be more than sorry!" The producer hissed at Alaska and Sandy, and Alaska simply smiled warmly back at her. "You three, line up and let's get this started!" Chloe gave Alaska one final glare before turning back around and heading towards the crater with Damian and Lachlan.

"Stupid bitches," Alaska hissed, turning back around to face the others. Sandy was staring down at the crater with a petrified look on her face, and Alaska glanced between her and the Clefairy. "What are you staring at?"

"The Clefairy, their going to do something to the Clefairy!" Sandy shrieked. Alaska turned and saw the three reality stars were lining up in front of the crater, Amanda telling them some information. It definitely looked like they were going to disturb the dancing Clefairy, and Alaska could tell they weren't meant to: there was a reason why the Clefairy had gathered around the black rock.

"It definitely looks that way," Alaska said. "Let's just move a bit closer to get within earshot, shall we?" Sandy and the Pokemon nodded, and they slowly moved behind the camera crew, listening to every word Amanda was saying.

"The Moon Stone, believed to be the remnant from an ancient meteor, is very important to the Clefairy," she said, reading off signs one of the workers was holding. "Each Monday night, the Clefairy come to the Moon Stone and dance around it. No one quite knows the reasons why, but some people believe Clefairy arrived one this meteor, and they pray and dance in honour of their ancestors.

"Your goal tonight is simple: break through the Clefairy and get to the Moon Stone. You must use your Pokemon to fend off the Clefairy and then to get a piece off the stone. The person who brings back the largest stone will win five Technical Machines off their choice and a range of berries for their Pokemon!"

"That's barbaric!" Sandy screeched, and all eyes turned back towards them. Amanda and Chloe instantly looked furious, and Alaska quickly took a step to the side, letting Sandy cop all the hate this time around. "How can you go and interrupt the Clefairy like this? If they're praying and dancing, why would you ruin that for them, especially if it only happens once a week? Just come back another day, pretend its Monday and use some robotic Clefairy!"

"We only do things for realsies on this show, thank you very much Blondie!" Chloe snapped back, and Alaska let out a snort laugh at the use of the word 'realsies'. "Oh shut up Alaska! Why don't go have a little cry in that blog of yours!" Alaska stopped laughing out loud, but continued to exchange looks with Paige and Darwin.

"Oh Chloe, I didn't even know you could read let along turn on a computer, good for you," she retorted with a smile. "Did you like the bits where I called you a –,"

"ENOUGH!" Amanda screamed, her voice echoing around and causing Sandy to jump. She looked positively murderous, and Damian and Lachlan exchanged concerned looks. "I don't care what the hell you two do, just get the fuck off my set before I throw you off! Go look for a fossil or something, I'm sure there are plenty down there!" Alaska was stunned by the producer's sudden outburst, but these words seemed suspicious: how did she know about fossils deep beneath the mountain? Was she simply guessing, or was there something Alaska didn't know?

"Let's just get going!" Chloe whined, and Amanda nodded, her eyes shooting back and forth between Alaska and her group.

"Yes, the mission… Um, no sabotaging each other… GO!" She shouted suddenly. Sandy let out a moan as the three stars raced forwards, throwing PokeBalls to send out Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur respectively. Alaska simply watched the proceedings with suspicion, staring at them as the stars and their Pokemon began to descend into the crater.

One thing Alaska hadn't noticed until now had been the Clefairy: they had been happily dancing around the Moon Stone with smiles on their faces, chanting their names and waving their entire bodies as they moved in unison. They hadn't paid attention to any of the shouting or any of the noise occurring behind them, simply doing their little weekly ritual.

However, they couldn't three teenagers and three other Pokemon charging down into their crater. The Clefairy all stopped simultaneously, staring frightfully towards the group as they charged down.

"Bubble!" Lachlan shouted, and his Squirtle fired forwards several bubbles to the nearest Clefairy. It cried out and fell over, and the Clefairy collectively gasped.

"Oh, this can't be good…," Alaska said. The three stopped running as the Clefairy seemed to swell up, looking furious. They each raised their arms into the air, and the camera crew looked fearfully over at a shocked Amanda.

"Clefairy," the Clefairy all growled in one angry tone, and they began to swing their arms about, their fingers glowing white.

"That's Metronome!" A cameraman shouted. "You don't know what their going to use, get out of there!" The stars didn't need telling twice, turning and leaping out of the crater as the first attacks were fired: Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Vine Whip, Hail, Rock Throw were just some of the moves unleashed, and Sandy screamed as the rocks above them rumbled, a Rock Slide and Avalanche both occurring.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Alaska shouted. The Clefairy were marching forwards, their arms moving once more, and there was a flash as one Clefairy flew upwards, while others unleashed BubbleBeam, Bullet Seed, Psybeam and Toxic. Chloe screamed and clung onto Bulbasaur, while Charmander and Squirtle fought back.

"Mankey Man Man!" Darwin screeched, leaping about, clearly eager to fight back against them.

"No Darwin, this isn't our fight, we didn't start this!" Alaska said, and Paige nodded in a knowing manner. Darwin looked saddened, but Alaska rolled her eyes and turned back to Sandy as the camera crew packed up their supplies and fled a Muddy Water attack. "Sandy, you and Butterfree need to get down that tunnel, now!"

"Alright," Sandy said shakily, and held tightly onto Butterfree and began running towards the tunnel, where Chloe was already fleeing with the crew. Damian nodded at Alaska as he walked past, Charmander trying to Ember back the Clefairy, and Alaska simply turned away, not sure what that was meant to mean.

"You two, let's get going. Only fight back if their going to hurt you, okay?" Alaska said. Darwin nodded reluctantly, but Paige was staring up at the sky, her beak as wide as it could possibly go, her eyes as round as saucers. "What is it?" Alaska asked, and stared upwards. Only then could she see the flying Clefairy hurtling down towards, engulfed in violet coloured energy. Alaska just swore and grabbed Paige and Darwin, jumping to the side as the Clefairy smashed into the ground they had just been standing on, making her own little crater that otherwise would have been Alaska's head. For a second, Alaska thought they were safe, and could now run back to the tunnel.

Unfortunately, she had jumped to the left instead of the right, and stared down at the empty space below her, cursing her untimely jumping abilities as they began to fall.

**I just want to quickly enforce an idea: though Damian, Lachlan and the Pokemon in this story don't seem to have much of a role, that is only for the moment where things are bit plotty and slotted into arcs. Damian and Lachlan will get their time to shine, and Alaska and Sandy's Pokemon will get more time to show themselves as the series progresses, so bare with me for the time being with them :P**


	26. Chapter 18: In MidPlight with Paras

**Chapter Eighteen: In Mid-Plight with Paras **

The first thing Alaska could feel was that horrible feeling of falling.

For the first second that they were in the air, Alaska could feel her stomach jumping up into her throat. She could feel her heart pounding painfully within her chest, beating with fear and surprise. Alaska could feel a tingling coldness in her feet as the wind battered against them, and she could feel the scream forming up in her throat. Paige's talons cut her into her skin, and Darwin was beating against her body. Alaska simply looked down with eyes wide with shock and unleashed the scream as they began to fall.

The scream echoed as they fell, and Alaska couldn't help herself as they began to fall like a large rock that had come loose. The sensation throughout her body was unbearable, and she couldn't help but see the jagged rocks that were awaiting them at the end of the fall.

_I can survive giant robots and sadistic mad men, _Alaska thought as Paige began to yell in fear as well, _yet I'm going to be taken out by a flying Clefairy and a very pointy rock… oh the irony._

"MAN MAN MAN!" Darwin yelled, and Alaska could feel him squirming, wondering if he was going to try and escape and leave them to die. But as Alaska opened her stinging eyes, she could see Darwin had his arms outstretched, trying to grab onto an outcrop of rock, trying to save them.

"PAIGE, PUSH US CLOSER TO THE MOUNTAIN," Alaska screamed, overjoyed to see that Darwin did actually like her and was trying to save them. Paige flapped her wings furiously, and the bundle of bodies was forced forwards towards Mt Moon. Alaska shut her eyes again, afraid of falling forwards and getting killed by a rock. Darwin suddenly grunted, and Alaska could feel a jolt, her stomach falling back into the right place. Her entire body was shaking as she opened her eyes and saw that the mountain was no longer moving upwards away from them. Darwin was holding tightly onto one outcrop, using all of his strength to hold on.

"YES!" Alaska screamed in delight, and gave Darwin a tight squeeze. The Mankey simply nodded, and suddenly propelled them upwards. Paige let out a strangled cry of fright, but Darwin managed to grab onto an outcrop high above them. Alaska wanted to congratulate him, but the wind was freezing and, combined with having just fallen hundreds of metres, it was causing her body to shake uncontrollably. Alaska simply held on tight as Darwin used his natural abilities to leap up the mountain, scaling the distance they had fallen in about ten seconds in the same time. The sounds of the battle above were getting louder, and Alaska braced herself for what to expect.

"Get ready to battle you two!" She shouted, staring up as the ledge got closer. "We are going to have to fight our way through and get into the tunnel." Paige and Darwin both made a noise, but Alaska couldn't tell if it was in agreement or fear or something else entirely and simply hoped they were ready. Darwin stretched out and grabbed the edge and heaved them upwards, high above the ground and back into the battle.

From up here, things looked quite intense. Damian and Lachlan remained fighting against the Clefairy, but it was clear Charmander and Squirtle weren't up to the challenge. Most of the crew had fled, but a cameraman and boom operator remained, using a Magneton, Machoke, Raticate and Exploud between them to fend the Pokemon off. Chloe and Amanda were nowhere to be seen, but Sandy's shouts could reach Alaska up in the air, and she could see her friend looked terrified to be chased by the Clefairy she had liked only a few moments ago. Alaska was furious at the reality show for causing this mess, and knew the Clefairy just wanted to protect their precious stone, and felt guilty at the fact that she would have to stop them.

"Paige, Twister them to give a clear run to the cave," Alaska cried as they began to sink back to earth. Paige nodded and let going, moving to the centre of the pink mass and began spinning. Alaska positioned her legs to brace for impact, still holding onto Darwin as they fell.

"MANKEEEY!" Darwin shrieked as he used Karate Chop on an unsuspecting Clefairy, blasting them away into the night. Alaska thudded into the ground, groaning in the pain she seemed to keep on suffering, and looked at Darwin for a help up. But the Mankey was tearing through the Clefairy, sending them flying with each chop of his hands, and it looked as if something had been let loose in a box of plush toys. Paige's Twister appeared, sucking most of them up and sending them flying to the bushes they had come from, but more just kept on coming.

"Don't these things ever faint," Alaska hissed, and pushed her injured hands to the ground in order to push herself up. However, a hand appeared before he, and Alaska looked up to see Damian standing before her, looking concerned. "Thanks," Alaska said as she grabbed hold and was heaved onto her feet.

"I wouldn't want you to get trampled by a Clefairy now would I?" Damian said with a smile, and Alaska managed to smile back, despite the pain throughout her body and the fact that the Clefairy seemed to be getting stronger. Alaska was going to ask Damian more about the shows role here when something large appeared to the side, and Alaska turned in shock to see an Arbok was rising up next to them. It was standing on its long, thick purple tail, staring down at them and hissing, and Alaska could see why Arbok had a face-pattern on their chests: it was a frightening image, and she could image it being the last thing a vulnerable Pokemon saw before being eaten.

"CHAAAR-BOK-BOK!" The Arbok screeched and dived between Alaska and Damian, straight into the crowd of Clefairy. The Clefairy all screamed as the purple beast struck them, whacking them aside with its long, thrashing tail.

"IRON TAIL, BITE, SLUDGE BOMB!" Amanda was rushing forwards, her clothing torn by the Clefairy and their attacks, her perfect hair now a wreck. She looked positively furious, and kept glaring over at Alaska as if she was going to send Arbok after her next.

"I say we leave her to it and head for the tunnel," Alaska whispered, taking the look as a cue to leave, and Damian nodded and picked up a battered Charmander from the ground. They quickly sprinted towards the entrance, Alaska calling out for Paige and Darwin, Damian grabbing Lachlan as they ran past.

"Smart idea," he said as he rescued Squirtle, and the three ran across the empty, safe space between this point and the tunnel. Alaska could sense freedom coming from it, but paused as Sandy screamed once again. She was standing trapped on a rock, clutching Butterfree and preventing her from battling, the Clefairy firing attacks towards them. Sandy had saved Alaska's life earlier, so the blogger saw it as only fair that she come in and help her out, and settle their debt at the same time.

"Paige, Steel Wing to scatter them!" Alaska shouted, pointing at Sandy.

"PIDGE!" Paige cried and shot directly downwards. Her glowing silver wings startled the Clefairy, and they spread apart to avoid being hit. Sandy continued screaming as she leapt forwards, running as fast as could towards Alaska as Damian and Lachlan disappeared into the tunnel. Alaska slapped her across the face, and Sandy was so shocked she stopped screaming.

"OW!" She said, rubbing her cheek, but Alaska merely shrugged.

"A thank you would have been more appropriate, but oh well," she said with a smile, and could see Paige had flown back to pick up Darwin, who seemed to prefer beating up Clefairy than saving his own life. "Alright then you lot, let's get running!" Alaska shouted, and sprinted into the tunnel. Sandy and the Pokemon quickly followed behind as they entered the darkness, the sounds of battle not leaving them yet. Alaska forgot about her earlier fears of falling down and simply sprinted, worrying about what would happen she stopped when they got near the bottom. Paige flew by her side with a sulking Mankey in her talons, and Sandy was muttering to Butterfree something along the lines of 'wasn't what I was expecting.'

"Just keep moving, we need to get out of here, fast!" Alaska shouted, her legs still aching and feeling fairly wobbly running at this angle. She didn't care if Amanda and her Arbok were blasted off the face of the mountain, as long as they got away from the fight.

"ALASKA, GO BACK!" A voice suddenly yelled, and Alaska wondered where it was coming from. But than she saw several faces appearing from the darkness, lights flashing behind them: it was Damian, Lachlan and a screaming Chloe, another group of Clefairy chasing after them.

"How did this happen?" Alaska shouted back at them, before realising they were all still running. She tried to stop, but simply skidded and had Sandy run into her. They collided with Lachlan, whose flailing arms hit the other two, and the humans all landed in a large pile on the ground.

"In answer to your question, I don't bloody know," Damian grunted. Alaska merely grunted at him as she looked up, seeing that a dozen or so Clefairy were marching forwards, their arms waving and a deadly glare in their eyes. They were either joining the fight or had been knocked down the tunnel by the fighting, but either way, they were angry and they were ready to fight.

"This is your entire fault Alaska!" Chloe hissed as they all got to their feet, uninjured this time. "If you hadn't come, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Alaska turned to her rival and glared at her, and heard Paige and Darwin growl as well.

"How exactly do you figure that, you slutty moron?" She snapped back, and Chloe gasped, her Bulbasaur growling up at Alaska. The blonde walked forward and lifted a hand, ready to swing it across, but Damian grabbed hold of it and pulled it down, just as a Water Gun was fired.

"Maybe we should be focused on escaping, and you two can have your fight later?" Sandy suggested. Alaska nodded, and the group began to run back up the tunnel as the Clefairy continued to fire. Paige, Darwin, Butterfree, Charmander and Squirtle all fired back attacks, but it didn't seem to be enough to stop the Clefairy as they unleashed a wide variety of attacks that varied in strength and type, but seemed to be able to defeat them. Alaska was getting worried: what if they weren't able to defeat the Clefairy, what then? If they worshipped a giant moon stone, would they go even further than that? Alaska was just thinking about a Clefairy slicing open her chest and sacrificing her on the stone when something hit her foot, and she swore loudly as once again she fell down.

"What the hell is it this time?" She fumed as she put her hands out to stop her, but only angered the injuries. Lachlan and Chloe kept on running, and Alaska caught Damian glancing back at her as he took off, but only Sandy came to a halt.

"Are you –,"

"I'm fine, just help me up!" Alaska snapped, being pushed beyond her limits today, and as Sandy and Darwin helped her up, Alaska looked down at where she had tripped, ready to hurtle the rock into oblivion. However, what she saw instead was a Pokemon: a very small, pale creature with red mushrooms on its hard back and large claws, which it was currently using to hide its face.

"It's a Paras!" Alaska gasped. She had always admired the half Grass, half Bug type, despite it being quite unpopular. One had appeared at her school once, and most of the children teased it for being small and tried to steal its mushrooms. Alaska wanted to hug it, but the teacher had removed it, complaining about it being a 'weak, annoying Pokemon.' "I feel so bad for yelling at it!"

"Pidgeotto Pidge Pidgey?" Paige said in a sarcastic tone, and Alaska simply shot her a nasty look as she bent down to pick it up. The Paras scuttled away from her hands, and Alaska made an 'aww' sound at it, causing Paige and Darwin to exchange looks.

"Hey, I still have a feminine side!" Alaska snapped, and Paige and Darwin simply exchanged smirks again. Alaska was tempted to throw something at them, but than the Clefairy fired more attacks, and Alaska realised they were meant to be fleeing.

"Can we please go?" Sandy screeched, staring at the advancing Clefairy with fright.

"In a minute!" Alaska snapped, shaking a hand, and looked back towards the Paras. She was staring frightfully between the Clefairy and Alaska, clearly not sure which one to be more afraid of, and simply began shaking.

"PAR!" She cried, and a cloud of yellow particles shot from the mushrooms. Alaska covered her mouth, and the others all did the same, but the particles wafted down towards the Clefairy. The advancing army of pink seized up as the particles surrounded them, and several came to a complete stop while the rest tried to walk onwards, but moved at a much slower pace.

"Stun Spore, she's paralyzed the lot of them!" Alaska cried. Darwin seemed to see this as an opportunity, and he began swinging his Karate Chops once more. Butterfree fluttered down and fired several Confusions, and soon the Clefairy were all rolling down the tunnel. Sandy clapped with joy, but Alaska's attention was on the Paras that was still staring frightfully up at her.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said, reaching out her hands. The Paras was looking up at her with its shaking body, clearly not sure as it kept reaching out and than pulling back its claws. Alaska thought that, given a few more moments, she could have caught her right than and there.

But than the worst happened.

A scream erupted behind them, and Alaska sighed, half expecting some rampaging, mutant Clefairy to appear after the day she'd had. She looked around to see that Chloe and Amanda were leading the group of screaming figures, with Damian, Lachlan and the camera crew all running behind. Paige fluttered onto Alaska's shoulders and wrapped her wings around her neck in fright, but Alaska didn't actually know what they were fleeing from until she heard the cry.

"CLEFAIRY, CLEFAIRY, CLEFARIY!" All the Clefairy from the top had formed into one giant pack, and they were now a moving mass of angry pink monsters. Alaska quickly grabbed hold of Darwin as Sandy ran screaming past, and than scooped up the Paras before she could run off.

"Trust me, this will be better for you," Alaska whispered, and ran as fast as she could. There was no way they would be able to overpower them all, especially as the attacks they were using seemed to be getting stronger, with a Hydro Pump and Seed Bomb nearly knocking Alaska over. Chloe and Amanda overtook her as they screamed, Bulbasaur and Arbok trailing behind them, and Alaska ended up running between Damian and Lachlan. She wasn't sure how much longer was left to go, but once they were in an open space, Alaska wondered if the Clefairy would stop.

"We need a way to defeat them all with one move," Damian yelled.

"Unless you've got an Arceus in your pocket, I don't think we've got a move like that," Alaska shouted back.

"Well, you _could_ say he's got an Arceus in his -," Lachlan began with a wide smile, but Alaska whacked him over the head before he could finish. The Paras was cowering in her arms, and Alaska felt bad for the poor thing, but was becoming more concerned about how they were going to escape. Her legs ached furiously and her entire body felt ready to collapse into a heap, and the only way of defeating them was what Damian had said.

"We don't need a special move," Damian said. "We just need something strong that could affect them all at once!" Amanda's head suddenly whipped around, and she looked at her Arbok and smiled.

"EARTHQUAKE, NOW!" The producer yelled, and her Arbok stopped and nodded, moving to the side so the others could get passed. Alaska was focusing on running, but she looked up at the roof of the tunnel, which was shaking and covering them with dust as they ran.

"WAIT! If you do that, the tunnel will collapse!" Alaska shouted. Amanda looked back and nodded at her, her smile stretching across her face: she was well aware that the Clefairy would die, and she didn't care at all. "NO, we can't kill them, it's not their fault this happened!" Alaska came to a stop, looking at Paige and ready to give an order to stop the attacks. But two of the camera crew suddenly grabbed her, and Alaska tried to free herself from their strong grip but ultimately failed, the two men much stronger than she was and carried her away.

"PIDGE!" Paige squawked, and tried beating the men away, but it was no use. Alaska was carried out of the tunnel just as Arbok unleashed a scream. She turned and watched as the tunnel began to shake, heard the screams of the Clefairy echoing down to them. Arbok's serpentine body slipped out just as the tunnel collapsed, and the group moved out of the way to avoid the falling rocks.

Silence fell between them, everyone taking into account what had just happened. The camera crew let go of Alaska, and she gave them a vicious look as she moved over to a frightened Sandy, who was clinging to Butterfree a little too tightly.

"Let's get out of here," Alaska growled. "I'm afraid I'll catch whatever cold hearted disease these people seem to have." She looked back at Amanda, who simply laughed in quite a contained fashion.

"If I hadn't killed them all, we could all be dead," she snapped back. "You should be thanking me, not glaring at me! Save your emotions for another day, you silly little girl, and just be glad at what happened. Maybe you can pay me back by not ruining this show again, alright?" Alaska simply raised her middle fingers at the woman and walked off into the cave. Sandy leapt up and followed after, not saying a word, which Alaska greatly appreciated. She simply wanted to walk and not look back at the show.

There was a reason why she was on this journey, and that was to prove that she was better than them, that she better than those that relied on starters. And after what had just happened, Alaska was looking forward to defeating Red and than crushing whichever one of them showed up at the Champion's Stadium.

It would be Alaska's very own cherry on top, and she couldn't wait for that to happen.

**I am not sure if this chapter turned out good or not... I wanted the ending to leave major tension between Alaska and the reality show, so I think that happened, but I also feel that it might have been rushed... I plan to explain things a bit better in the next chapter, and than the blog/interlude combo, so if you feel something went unaddressed or to quickly, please mention it and I will make sure I clarify that. **


	27. Chapter 19: Digging  For Answers

**Chapter Nineteen: Let's Go Digging – For Answers!**

"Come on Alaska, your slowing me down!"

"I'm going slowly because, frankly, I've been injured enough for a lifetime over the past few days, and I don't want to get hurt again. Besides, the last time I followed after you, we nearly got killed, did we not?"

"Egh, are you going to keep playing that card? You can't keep blaming me for that one, and do not use it as an excuse for you being slow and lazy!"

Alaska simply rolled her eyes as she followed after Sandy, following her lavender dress for afar as it managed to stick out in the darkness. Two nights and a day had passed since the incident with the reality stars, and Alaska was still disgusted by what had happened. Yesterday they had seen a team come into clear away the rubble, and by standing on the top of Sandy's Onix to blend in, they heard them mention that a dozen Clefairy bodies were found crushed by the rocks. It had sickened Alaska to her very core, and all she wanted to do was train and find the reality stars again and defeat them all with a move apiece.

She was stunned that Amanda could have done such a thing: she was a complete bitch from what Alaska had gathered, but killing a group of Pokemon to save themselves… that was the lowest thing Alaska had ever seen, and it disgusted her. She half expected the reality stars to have all quit, but Alaska and Sandy saw them doing another game involving solving a rock puzzle. All three, even Damian, seemed unfazed by it, and Alaska had felt personally hurt by it. No doubt the incident with the Clefairy would be wiped from the series, the stars told to forget about it, and it took all of Paige, Sandy and Butterfree's strength combined to stop her running over and shouting at them all.

That wasn't to say the day had been all bad. The little Paras Alaska had rescued didn't seem to want to leave them, though it didn't seem to want to stay with them either. After nearly an hour of running away and then running back, squeaking every time one of the other Pokemon moved and cowering behind her claws, Alaska rolled a Great Ball she had found towards the shy little Paras. It took only a few moments to decide, but than Alaska had a brand new Pokemon in Frances.

But though Alaska was desperate to leave Mt Moon, and put all the bad memories behind her, Sandy had been spurred on by a comment Amanda had made: fossils. The blonde haired girl was kind hearted and well intentioned, but obsessed on single thoughts, and refused to leave until they managed to find any fossils. Alaska had been unwilling, but after remembering what had happened at Pewter Museum, she became intrigued. If there were any fossils of Kabuto or Omanyte down here, and they managed to find them, maybe Alaska could get them back to Mark, and possibly get a better explanation of things in the process.

Unfortunately, Sandy had an interesting way of finding things.

"You do realise that by simply staring at the walls, we aren't going to find any fossils?" Alaska called out. Sandy simply gave her a look that read 'stop whining' and kept walking, Butterfree out and scanning the rocks for anything with her Compoundeyes. Alaska sighed once more, and kept on walking with Paige flying overhead, Darwin scaling the walls for fun, and Frances nervously walking beside her, seeming scared at everything that happened.

"How much further do you think we'll go?" Alaska asked, scooping Frances up and nearly causing the mushrooms to leap from her back in surprise in the process. Sandy came to a stop and turned around, giving Alaska a look that was meant to be cross but looked more comical.

"Well Alaska, I am not going to find any fossils if you keep being snappy, am I?" She growled, and Alaska merely shrugged, figuring she had a fair point. They continued moving, Paige getting so bored that she settled on Alaska's shoulder, and Frances looked very comfortable as she stared up at Alaska.

"We are going to have to test your abilities out at some point," Alaska said, and the Paras gave a little nod of agreement. Paige smiled warmly at the two, and Alaska had high hopes at that moment for the rest of her journey. If she could get Frances up to scratch in time for Cerulean City and its Water type gym, than she could breeze through there and hopefully reach Saffron City and its Psychic gym, where Frances' Bug abilities would definitely be useful. But for now, Alaska just wanted to focus on getting out of Mt Moon and moving onto better pastures.

"I can hear something!" Sandy suddenly shrieked, doing a little dance on the spot. Alaska snapped out of her chain of thought and listened: she could definitely hear the sound of the something striking the wall, and as well as something… sparking?

"Someone must have found the fossils for us!" Sandy shouted, and before Alaska could say anything, she began skipping away towards the source of the noise. Butterfree looked at the ground and sighed, and gave Alaska a sort of pleading look before quickly flying off after her.

"I don't know what the noise is, but whatever it is, I highly doubt it is going to be good," Alaska said, and Paige nodded. Sandy was already speeding off into the distance, but Alaska saw Darwin suddenly leap after her, and smiled, glad to have someone on her tail. "SANDY, WAIT UP! BE CAREFUL!" Alaska shouted, her voice echoing dramatically around, and took off as fast as she could. Paige leapt up and began to fly after, while Frances simply curled up and covered her eyes. "Come on now Franny: if you're going to be a member of this team, you're going to have to get ready for crazy stuff."

"Para Par," Frances responded weakly, and Alaska simply laughed, though it faded when she realised a sudden change: there wasn't any noise. Alaska could hear Butterfree calling out to Sandy, and Sandy snapped something back, but they hadn't registered the sudden change in noise. Instead, something seemed to be glowing behind them… something circular…

"Shit," Alaska growled. "SANDY, RUN! PAIGE, TWISTER!"

"Thunderbolt," a voice that was all too familiar ordered, and before Sandy could register anything, a powerful blast of electricity fired between her and Butterfree. Sandy screamed as Paige squawked, her feathers standing on end. Alaska nearly dropped Frances to the ground as she sped forwards and caught her, Sandy fleeing past on the other side.

"Are you alright?" Alaska asked quickly. Paige's eyes were half closed and she looked slightly scorched, but she managed a nod. Alaska smiled down at her as Darwin appeared at her side, fists clenched and staring towards the light that was casting gloomy shadows across them all. Footsteps echoed in the silence that was only broken by Sandy's occasional screams, and Alaska looked up with an angry scowl, furious to see she had been beaten to the chase.

"Ah, Alaska," Gideon said with his creepy smile, "how nice to see you again. Well… not really. It is very disappointing to see my devices are not up to the task of killing you, but oh well. I can always kill you myself."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Alaska snapped, and Darwin took a step forwards, an angry, determined scowl on his face. Gideon's Electrode rolled forwards, sparks continuing to fly from its body. "You're here for the fossils, aren't you?" Gideon simply smiled and raised up a large metal pick axe.

"Guilty as charged! After all these years, it was quite easy to find them again," Gideon said, "but I had forgotten how deep I have had placed them – that was a bit of a silly mistake on my part now, wasn't it?"

"What do you want the fossils for?" Alaska asked quickly, not sure if he would answer or not, but Gideon simply laughed and looked down at Electrode, who laughed in quite an electronic manner.

"Now Alaska, I could tell you what my plans of revenge are, but than I would have to kill you… well, I am going to kill you anyway, but there is always a chance it would get out. And while we are having this nice chat, who is your lovely new friend whimpering pathetically over there?" Alaska wanted to punch Gideon with all her might, knowing an insult would not improve Sandy's views on this. But as she turned to face the blonde haired girl, Alaska was surprised to see her straightening up and wiping away the tears, staring determinedly over at Gideon.

"My name is Sandy Samson, but only my friends call me Sandy, so you can call me Alexandra," Sandy said boldly, and Gideon simply smiled.

"Hello than Alexandra Samson, it is lovely to meet you," he said with a wide, sickening smile. "Unfortunately, I am going to kill you both now so I can get back to digging for my fossils. It was lovely to see you again Alaska, but it is even better to know you are not going to get in my way again."

"Don't worry Gideon, I have a way of staying in the way," Alaska snapped. She was sick of Gideon and this whole messy drama she seemed to be involved in: all Alaska wanted was to get this out of the way and concentrate on her league challenge. The only way she could get that done was by eliminating Gideon. "Darwin, Karate Chop on that pick axe. Frances, Stun Spore on Electrode!"

"MAN MAN!" Darwin shouted, leaping forwards and striking the pick axe before Gideon could react. It snapped cleanly in two and cluttered to the ground, and Darwin swept the pieces up with his tail. Frances, however, just look at the sparking Electrode as if Alaska had asked her to mate with it. Electrode smiled and fired another bolt, moving once again with excellent speed. Alaska screamed as it blasted her in the stomach, causing Paige and Frances to fall from her arms and Alaska to roll through across the ground, a hole blasted through her red shirt.

"Fricking bloody shit," Alaska cursed, the pain creeping through her entire body. She could imagine arriving back home right now and her mother screaming at the amount of injuries she had gained in only a week a bit of being away. There was a scream and Sandy rushed over, looking at Alaska with hands clasped over her mouth.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? Can you move – oh my god, you're paralyzed, aren't you?" She cried, looking horrified.

"I will be fine if you just help me up," Alaska growled, though her anger should be directed towards Gideon. Sandy nodded and grasped Alaska's slowly healing hands, helping her get back to her feet. It appeared that Paige and Butterfree had entered the battle, the Pidgeotto whacking Gideon constantly with her wings while Butterfree aided Darwin in fighting Electrode from above. Frances simply backed away, looking petrified by the entire situation.

"We need to capture him and take him to the police in Cerulean City," Alaska told Sandy, staring at the scientist as he pathetically tried to bat away Paige. Sandy nodded, and than her face lit up like a lightbulb.

"And I know just how to do it!" She cried, and grabbed a Great Ball from her pocket. Alaska was intrigued to see Sandy had a second Pokemon, and then froze when she remembered that she already knew this fact, and knew what was within that ball.

"Sandy, no, sto –," Alaska began to cry, but Sandy had already rolled it forwards. Alaska growled and pulled Sandy out of the way as her Onix began to form, blue energy spilling out of the Great Ball as if a very small pipe had a very large leak. The two girls ended up back with their Pokemon, staring up as Onix rose up towards the roof, letting out a gigantic roar. Alaska looked down at the Pokemon and Gideon, all who had stopped fighting in order to stare at the beast. Paige and Darwin simply looked up at Onix, and then turned towards Alaska and gave her a look that quite clearly read 'you're serious?'

"Paras Paras Paras Paras Paras Paras Paras Paras!" Frances squealed, rushing forwards and scaling Alaska's body, looking like she was about to explode. Onix glared down at them, looking positively angry about being sent out, though Sandy seemed to have a confident smile on her face.

"Let's see you try and fight this one!" She called out to Gideon. The scientist was staring up at the Rock Snake with as much surprise as the rest of them, but turned towards Sandy at her words and smiled.

"Nice move Alexandra, very nice move indeed," he said. "It appears that I am a beat… for today, at least." Alaska looked surprised, but Gideon simply laughed coolly. "I am a smart man Alaska, I know when I cannot win a battle. Fighting an Onix of this size would be foolish. Besides, you cannot stay in Mt Moon forever. I will be back once you have gone, and I will definitely succeed in getting my fossils."

"I will get them first then!" Alaska shouted back. She didn't care if Gideon wasn't going to kill them today or not: she wanted to end this and find out the truth about his plans and get back to focussing on her journey. "I am not going to let you get away with whatever twisted plan you have! You can either take the fossils right now, or I will get them and destroy them!" Gideon looked rather taken aback by this, but a scowl suddenly appeared on his face, his fists clenching up. Electrode rolled back towards them, sparking and glowing more than ever.

"I warned you about getting involved, thinking you would do the smart thing and stay away, but I can see I was wrong!" The madman shouted. "You are a fool Alaska, and I hope you can get that through your head before I blow it off! GYRO BALL!"

"Trode Elec Elec Electrode," Electrode said robotically, and suddenly flashed silver and shot forwards. Alaska realised in a second there was no chance to flee, no chance to escape, and simply held her hands up to her face to shield herself, forgetting who was still in her arms…

"PARAAAA!" Frances yelled, and Alaska opened her eyes in shock, but saw the little Paras do something amazing: one of her tiny claws flashed silver and swung forwards, just as the deadly Electrode appeared. Alaska nearly toppled over as Electrode came up close, but the powerful Metal Claw sent it flying backwards, straight back to the opposite wall. There was a thud that shattered through the silence, even Onix appearing stunned at what had happened, and they watched as rocks slid aside from the force of the attack, Electrode rolling away unconscious.

"Well that's new," Alaska said, staring down at Frances in shock. The Paras seemed terrified by everyone staring at her, and simply curled back into a ball and shielded herself from their view. "At least we've made some progress…," Alaska said, and looked up at the others. Paige and Sandy both shrugged, but Darwin and Butterfree were focused on something else. Alaska looked in the same direction they were, and saw they and Gideon were staring at the place Electrode had just crashed into. A large section of rock had fallen away, leaving a chamber unhidden, along with its contents.

Fossils.

Alaska couldn't see if the Dome or Helix fossils were there, but the Old Amber's distinctive colour allowed it to stand out in this light. Gideon looked at Alaska, and Alaska looked at her Pokemon. In a split second everyone moved except Sandy and her Pokemon, who still didn't quite understand what was going on, and they all moved towards the gap.

"STOP HIM!" Alaska roared. She wasn't going to let Gideon get the fossils, not after they had come so close. Darwin leapt forwards with surprising speed and heading towards the chamber, but Gideon quickly struck out and sent the Mankey sprawling.

"OOOOTTOOOO!" Paige cried and began attacking his face, stopping Gideon in his tracks as he tried to bat her away, but only walked straight into Electrode and sprawled over to the ground. Alaska beamed and sprinted as fast as she could, wondering if she should rescue the fossils or destroy them before Gideon could get them.

But as something rumbled nearby, Alaska knew her day wasn't going to end well.

She looked to the left as a rumbling filled the cave, slowly getting louder and louder. The entire cave was shaking, and Alaska couldn't run due to the vibrations occurring. She simply looked around and could see something coming rapidly towards them: it was large and circular and moving at a rapid pace.

"BOULDER!" Sandy screamed, and Alaska had to agree, though was left stunned at the sheer size of it and wondered how it was even moving, no sloped areas anywhere near them.

"Free Free!" Butterfree cried as the boulder got closer, and her eyes flashed pink. The Confusion would have been strong enough to knock the boulder off course, but the thing simply was covered by a pink wave and kept moving in the same direction. Alaska was ready to run to higher ground, but than the boulder did something that made several very rude words form in her head.

It jumped.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Sandy screamed, watching as the boulder suddenly sprouted legs and leapt up. It was beginning to move, arms sprouting out along with what could be a head. The boulder creature moved past a chasm of light, and Alaska saw an ugly brown head and a segmented body, and knew it was no boulder.

"It's a fricking Golem!" She shouted.

"OOOONNNNNNNIIIIIXXXX!" Onix seemed to take this as his cue to start being loud and noisy once more, and bolted forwards to fight. Golem's arms clasped onto his head, and the Rock Snake began flailing his massive body around as he tried to fight with it, a battle of giant beast on giant beast. Alaska was so confused and annoyed that she wanted to scream, but more importantly wanted to be safe. She heaved Darwin off the ground and saw Paige was still pecking at Gideon, who was yelling and trying to fend her off with rocks.

"HE'S NOT WORTH IT!" Alaska shouted, and Paige looked up, clearly disappointed that she couldn't attack him. "We need to get going. Let the bloody Golem kill him!" Paige seemed to nod at this and flew away. Alaska gave Gideon one last look of resentment before kicking him in his bleeding legs, savouring his yell. She would gladly grab the fossils, but she couldn't carry them along with Darwin and Frances, and there wasn't enough time to bring them back with the flailing Onix nearby.

"RUN!" Alaska shouted to Sandy and pushed her forwards, Butterfree and Paige already hovering behind a safe pile of rocks. Sandy continued to scream as Onix roared and tried to shake Golem off, and they only just got behind the pile when Onix thought of a new tactic. He turned his body around and arched up before diving forwards head first, Golem still holding on. If any of them had been there, they would have been crushed, and Alaska briefly applauded Onix's tactics as he smashed Golem to the ground.

Unfortunately at that point, Golem exploded.

This wasn't a Pokemon move such as Selfdestruct or Explosion: the Golem literally exploded. Orange light lit up the entire cavern, and Alaska pulled Sandy and the Pokemon behind the pile as she saw rock formations and packs of Zubat and Geodude she hadn't seen in the darkness. The force was enough to blow their pile of rocks apart, and Alaska kept her face to the ground as the stones washed over her body. Onix's roar was louder than the actual blast, and the pain he must be going through of getting an up close explosion was unimaginable.

The whole thing lasted only ten seconds, and Alaska only moved once she was sure things were safe. She leapt to her feet to find dust clouding the few, but Onix's body was visible through it. Sandy leapt to her feet and moved before Alaska could stop her, racing towards Onix screaming.

"ONIX, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" She yelled.

"BE CAREFUL!" Alaska cried out. Paige fluttered her wings to clear the dust and smoke, and Butterfree used Confusion to clear a safe path. Alaska wasn't surprised by the large amounts of rock or several damaged ground that got moved, but froze up when she saw more unusual things: twisted metal, sparking wires and circuit boards, the flaming head of the Golem that had shattered glass where its eyes should have been.

"Oh Onix!" Sandy cried, and Alaska looked over briefly to see Onix was charred but otherwise unharmed, deep rumblings sounding from his body. Sandy appeared to be trying to wash the ash over with a handkerchief, and Alaska would have told her not to be silly or laughed if she hadn't noticed something else.

Gideon was gone.

Alaska ran forwards, Paige flying overhead, and rushed past more damage to where she had last seen the madman. But he was no longer there, and neither was Electrode… and neither were the fossils.

"FUUUUUCK!" Alaska screamed, throwing her bag against the wall and kicking several loose stones. Sandy gave her a shocked look through her teary eyed face, but Alaska didn't care and continued to scream, putting Darwin and Frances down as she clutched her head in her rage, pulling at her hair and kicking more rocks.

"Pidgey Pidge Pidgeotto," Paige called softly, but Alaska ignored her, too confused and too angry to listen: angry at Gideon, angry at the Golem robot, angry at herself for letting her guard down and not getting the fossils. Now Gideon was somewhere with the fossils, his plan even closer to succeeding than before. But the one thing Alaska wanted to ram her head against the wall for wasn't that.

Another robot had appeared, and based on the fact it had risen quickly out of nowhere with no slopes should have been warning enough that it wasn't natural. Someone other than Gideon was trying to kill her, possibly both of them, and Alaska wanted to know who and wanted to know why.

**Darwin was going to evolve in this part, but I decided that he isn't quite there yet, so he will be evolving sometime before Vermillion instead. I also wasn't going to expand on the robotics after the giant Beedrill, but I think Beedrill got well received and I figured it would actually help the plot more, so its stayed in :D**

**Another note: In Interlude Three, I put Articuno instead of Zapdos, which is incorrect as Leaf owns Articuno and Red Zapdos. It has since been corrected. **


	28. Blog 5: A Right Pickle

**This one isn't quite as funny as previous blogs, so be prepared for that ;) Interlude Four out later today... hopefully**

**Blog Five: A Right Pickle **

Hello my loyal readers once more – and what a blog I have for you today. It is full of the usual psychotic madmen, annoying celebrities and gigantic robots, but I decided to have an extra painful week and sprinkled in some dead Pokemon, a new friend and Pokemon and several just swell injuries to the mix :D

Things went downhill when a giant Onix nearly killed me. I'm sure you're all thinking _But__that__'__s__just__a__normal__day__in__the__day__–__to__–__day__life__of__Alaska_ and it unfortunately is beginning to seem that way. I was saved from the Onix by my lovely friend Sandy Samson, who may have helped me out this time, but got me into the two of the biggest things I've had to deal with so far.

Sandy saw some Clefairy, and she thought it would be fun to chase them up a large tunnel to nowhere, and of course I had to follow along. It was quite a long and very nerve wracking walk that didn't help when your body is bleeding, but I carried on and than we got to this part of the mountain that had a large moon stone in a crater that would look much better in my bedroom or broken down into a lovely piece of jewellery, but I would not do that to the poor Clefairy who live there.

Pity the same can't be said for everyone.

The reality stars were there, and were planning on using the Clefairy and their stone for a part of their demented little game. I am sure you have all realised how much I despise these people, but I think I will clarify for good measure: I hope stalactites land on their skulls and reach down into their hearts, and than cannibals find them and cook them alongside brussel sprouts and oven fries. So yes, I hate them all so very very much, and I do hope that their bitch of a producer and that slut Chloe get what's coming to them (The whole town knows that Chloe's got Onix's digging around your caves, pardon my innuendo – though we've all seen the guys getting in through HER window, Ooooh!)

The Clefairy were not doing anything wrong until the reality stars disturbed them, telling their stars to chip off bits of the stone. When they tried to do this, than the Clefairy, who had been as sweet and happy as dancing candy floss, turned nasty and become EEEEVIIIIIL! They began using Metronome and tried to kill us, one of them knocking me, Paige and Darwin off the side, and if it wasn't for Darwin's Mankeyness, we would have died. We returned to the top and proceeded to run away with Sandy, as that seemed smart, only to find more Clefairy down the tunnel who were happy to waggle their fingers like there was no tomorrow.

I was getting pretty peeved off at this point, let me tell you, and I was quite tempted to just give up and go away, but than I saw a shining orange light: a Paras! I can imagine some of you cringing a bit at the thought of a Paras: they are not pretty, they smell funny, they have too many weaknesses, they don't match my handbag. Well, I don't care. I love Paras so much: they are very cute and very quirky little Pokemon in my opinion, and they come with free mushrooms (some Paras do a 2 for 1 deal sometimes – cheapskates!) This Paras seemed afraid of me, but more afraid of the Clefairy and sprayed them with a Stun Spore of Doom! The Clefairy were indeed paralyzed, which was nice, and it allowed us to break through when Amanda came running down the tunnel with all the Clefairy following after.

The thing that happened next is the single vilest thing I have ever seen happen in my life. I have seen people get picked on cruelly, Pokemon getting abused, seen murder and war on the news, but this was just… disgusting.

Amanda commanded her Arbok to use Earthquake on the tunnel, causing it to collapse. The Clefairy in there were crushed and killed, and I was ready to crush and kill that selfish bitch. This was the most inhumane way of stopping the Clefairy. I know battling and defeating them and leaving them unconscious isn't the best way of dealing with Pokemon whose habitats we have invaded, but it is better than simply killing them. I am all for the rights of wild Pokemon, and usually do my best not to disturb them when I go through. To casually kill an entire group of Clefairy is just wrong. The Clefairy were not the ones at fault – it was Amanda and her reality stars that angered them, and they are the ones who should be punished.

I left without saying a word to them, and officially caught the scared little Paras, now Frances, shortly after that. She is now part of the team, and it seems that I have also caught a Sandy as well. I don't mind getting a travelling companion, and I must admit that it will be nice to have someone to train with, to talk to that can reply in English (I can never tell the difference between "Pidgey Pidge Otto" and "Otto Pidge Pidgey"), and possibly get her to cook for me because I can't even cook popcorn without stuffing it up.

But than Sandy decided to do something that led to my second bad experience for the week: she wanted to go looking for fossils. I was wary of straying further into the mountain, but was drowned by her protests and the fact she was already running off. And than I remembered Pewter Museum… you all remember, right? I'll give you a moment …. Same page? Good. So I thought it would be interesting to see if there were any fossils here, and maybe I could get rid of them before some one else appears and tries to use them for diabolical schemes.

But as it turned out, that someone was already there and already diabolically scheming.

Gideon was pleasant but sadistic as he had been last time, and was apparently struggling to find the fossils. I simply wanted to get this all over with: I am meant to be collecting badges, not collecting injuries and a long list of psycho enemies. So of course Paige and Darwin fought his Electrode, with help from Sandy's Butterfree and later her Onix, who was a bit of a show stopper (I can see a career in the West End of Celadon City for this one ;) ) Gideon was going to give up, but than I did the foolish thing… I answered back. I told him I would just get them once he left, and he warned me once again about this game I was in. He then had his Electrode fly towards my head, and only a powerful Metal Claw from Paras sent him flying and smashing through a hole in the wall, which, of course, revealed the fossils! I went running towards them along with everyone else, but than another robot appeared.

You read right, and I bet most of you have won some bets about wheter that would happen again. This one was a Golem we originally mistook for a boulder, and it began a powerful fight with Onix, and I was forced to leave Gideon and flee for my life. We only learnt Golem was a robot when Onix smashed him to the ground and, guess what, it exploded! It seems that lots of things explode around me, which is a bit of frightening thought, and this was a pretty hot, powerful blast, just like when a – I shan't finish this, I believe this blog is T rated. But after the blast, I looked up and swore very very loudly, because Gideon was gone and the fossils were gone – brilliant.

Did I do the right thing in fleeing from Onix and Golem? Should I have told him I would fight him back? If I hadn't been so rash to get him off my back and move on with my journey, maybe he wouldn't have escaped… Im not sure… I just want to put all of this behind me and focus on my journey, but I am not sure if I can, especially now that this Golem Bot appeared. This thing was sent to try and kill us, I am sure of that, as it had no other reason being there and did attack Onix. I need to find some answers and I need to get this weight off my back, just so I can get a move on and focus on the things that are more important.

I need to focus back on my training. Darwin has shown his strong and his ability to fight, but I need to get his anger under control and keep him focused on battling properly rather than flipping out. I get the feeling sometimes that he doesn't like me, so I am going to have to train him up to trust me more. Frances has also shown amazing powers, but I think she is far too afraid of things to be good in battles. She will be an asset come time to face off with the Admiral Ginge aka Misty, the Water type gym leader, so I must work on her skills. Paige is doing just fine, but some new moves and some more training won't harm her much either.

I will bring more tales of laughter and explosions after the gym battle. Hopefully no one tries to kill me before than, as I just got a new shirt and I don't really want to wash blood out of it. I must find someone and tell them about Gideon getting the fossils, and maybe they can deal with it instead – Im a Pokemon Trainer, not CSI.

Until next time, stay safe and stay out of caves,

Alaska 'Still in One Piece' Acevedo.

PS. I have the feeling someone or something is watching me. I was asleep last night and heard a twig snap, and when I stared out of the tent, I saw a figure moving away. I still don't know who gave me that warning back in the Beedrill nest, but that's just another thing Im going to have to find out, isn't it?


	29. Interlude 4: Two Sides of the Same Coin

**Before reading, please note I have done some retconning: the date of the prologue is officially 2008 now, and Arthur Reynolds has not fully retired as stated in Interlude One. Enjoy**

****

**Interlude Four: Two Sides of the Same Coin**

Wreckage lay all around, and Buzz Bolton was not impressed.

He stared at the ruined pieces of the Golem Bot, from the large metal chunks that made up the segmented body to an arm that still appeared to be sizzling slightly. Several men were gathering the pieces onto trolleys and burning them, and would then take the ashes back to Silph Co. with them and store them away at the very back of their storage facilities, preferably inside something else so they would never be found. If the two robots were linked back to Buzz, than the show would be ruined and the plan he had been forming for the past five years would go up in smoke.

Buzz was walking in silence, a calm expression on his face even though his hands were balled up by his sides. Only a few feet away stood Amanda Anderson, who was almost shaking in nervousness. She appeared to be trying to keep her cool, with her hair tied back and nicely dressed as always, but her thin lips were quivering slightly and her eyes were constantly twitching. Anyone watching this scene would think she was overreacting, as Buzz appeared calm and relaxed, no visible signs of violence.

"Cro Cro Cro," a sudden screech sounded, and Buzz paused and looked calmly up as a purple Crobat came flying down from the darkness. Portable lamps were lighting the clean up mission, and Crobat was soon perfectly visible, all four wings flapping furiously to keep him afloat.

"Yes?" Buzz asked pleasantly, and Amanda began to shake more, getting more nervous. The Crobat shook his head, and Buzz nodded. "Very well then," he said and turned towards Amanda. His demeanour changed as if a flip had been switched: his face twisted in rage and he marched forwards on the unstable ground and slapped the producer on the cheek, causing her to scream and collapse to the ground. "HOW COULD YOU HAVE BEEN SO FOOLISH?" He hissed, no longer keeping his rage under control as no one else was around. Amanda was sobbing pathetically, clutching her face and trying to avoid his glare.

"I am sorry… I didn't expect that happen, none of us did!" She cried, but Buzz angrily lashed out again, kicking small stones and dust towards her.

"Not good enough, and don't try and drag me down with you!" He hissed. "We were meant to be tracking her, she should never had gone into that tunnel. And you were the one who thought the Moon Stone Challenge would be a good idea!" Amanda continued to sob, and Buzz looked away in disgust. The men clearing away Golem had been watching in shock but quickly made out to be working busily. Buzz did not usually get angry, but lately he was being pushed to his limits, unable to control his rage as his perfectly laid out plan began to be crushed.

"What do our stars think of what happened?" He asked, and Amanda managed to control her sobbing, wiping away tears but remained on the floor.

"They were shocked at first, but they are easily distracted. Lachlan captured a Geodude and Chloe a Clefairy, and then we did another challenge we was easy enough to take their minds off things," Amanda said in her usual brisk manner, but than she paused for too long and Buzz turned back around, giving her a quizzical glare. "Well… Chloe and Lachlan seem to have forgotten, but I am not sure about Damian…"

"DAMNIT! Just what we need!" Buzz hissed, kicking out at some rocks. "I knew he was too smart and intuitive when we selected him. When couldn't we have gotten three bimbos and stuck them together?"

"The test audiences didn't respond to the idea – they said there are already enough morons on our channel to deal with," Amanda replied, sounding as if she had a cold. Buzz looked down at her, their eyes meeting for several moments, and than they both began to laugh. Their laughter slowly increased, echoing around the cave and startling the cleaning men. Their laughter was not full of joy though: Amanda's sounded almost robotic, while Buzz's was deep and cruel. He collapsed down next to her and clutched her hands in his tightly, still laughing though his eyes stayed blank.

"Ah… we have certainly produced a lot of crap over these past few years, haven't we?" He said with a sigh, and Amanda nodded, the violence moments before fading from memory. "But it was all worth it, wasn't it? We wouldn't be here today if we hadn't made all those shows, and we wouldn't be one step closer to getting revenge." Amanda simply nodded along, her eyes still showing her nervousness, fearful that Buzz might erupt again at any moment. But the fit, tanned man leaned forwards and kissed her on her lips, both wearing an expression that seemed to resemble someone doing something entirely unpleasant, little passion coming from them.

"Make sure there are no more stuff ups," Buzz growled as he backed away, and Amanda nodded obediently.

"I don't think she will be coming back near us, she seemed very revolted by the Clefairy's deaths," she said, and Buzz nodded as he got to his feet.

"Stay here and watch over the men, then return to the stars and get them to Cerulean City," he commanded without looking at her. "I will burn the tapes with Alaska in them. Whatever views she posts on that blog will be made redundant due to lack of any actual evidence. And if that bitch comes near you in Cerulean, than tie cement blocks to her feet and throw her in the lake. I don't want to hear her name ever again." Amanda nodded and got back to her feet, putting the slap behind her. Buzz walked slowly away with Crobat fluttering above him, not saying goodbye to Amanda or the cleaning men. He would return to Saffron City, he would wait for the stars to venture further onwards, and nothing else would interrupt their plans for this.

In a few weeks, the reality stars would arrive at the Indigo League, one of them will get Buzz and Amanda to the Champion's Stadium, and than they will kill Red and get their revenge five years in the making.

The only thing that could stop them now was Alaska.

Senior Inspector Arthur Reynolds was not in the mood.

It was the eve of his retirement, the end of thirty six years of service. A big party was being planned in his honour, and he heard rumours of a special gift coming his way. Arthur was not one for parties, and was simply looking forward to his career ending. He was done with seeing dead bodies and weeping family members, tired of going to court and recount the grizzly details of the many crimes he had seen. Arthur just wanted to go home with his loyal Arcanine, who was getting on his last legs since he had gotten him as a Growlithe twenty eight years ago, and read for the rest of his days and put the bad memories aside.

Unfortunately, one last grizzly crime had come up.

Arthur had been back to the Chrono Island area since that faithful day in 2008, but he had never experienced a crime as large as the one on September 7th: the explosion that had caused a forest fire and cleared an entire area. Arthur Reynolds had temporarily retired due to his frustration over the case, but he had returned afterwards to find the case had been closed. They had never worked out who or what had caused the explosion, and the area had been turned into new housing to help with the number of people arriving at Sevii. It still annoyed Arthur that it had never been solved, and to return here was just a punch in the guts so near the end of his career.

There were no blazes here today. A serial killer seemed to be striking the area, using powerful blasts of energy to leave many people from the housing estates, ranging from two six year old boys to a woman in her late seventies, found dead amongst her groceries. A Pokemon was suspected of the attacks, but Arthur had learnt one thing about Pokemon during his time as an officer: though some could be savage, they never harmed humans as severely as this. And Arthur had reviewed some of the autopsy photos on the boat ride here, and the amount of energy used would have had to be have been specially built up, the Pokemon trained to murder.

The latest woman was a father, the right side of his chest found two metres away from his body. As Arthur stepped unwillingly towards the crime scene, he could see a trio of young, handsome cops were keeping the curious and scared residents away from the scene. _Give__them__a__few__years__… __they__won__'__t__look__so__pretty__then,_ Arthur thought grouchily as the yellow tape was lifted and he moved forwards.

"What seems to be the case – same as the others?" Arthur called out to the group around the body. Two detectives in their mid forties and the head photographer were there, and looked stunned to see Arthur.

"Who was the fool that sent you here on your last night?" The photographer, Toby, said, and Arthur merely shrugged.

"I don't mind: I'll be dumping this case to whoever is the last person standing by the door on my way out tomorrow," he replied, and the three laughed. "I might as well put some of my experience to good use to get this going. Not going to be too useful when I'm at home watching the soaps."

"You could always write a novel," one of the officers, Jack, said, and Arthur chuckled as he moved forwards. Seeing dead bodies was not a highlight of the job, but Arthur would miss his friends and the bonding experience that being a cop was. Arthur reflected on this as the cameras bulb flashed, illuminating the grizzly remains of the body. These murders were senseless and unnecessary, and Arthur was once again pleased to be leaving all the unnecessary deaths behind.

"So, ready to sprinkle some knowledge on this scene?" The other cop, Nathan, asked with a slight sense of joke in his voice. Arthur nodded and began to walk around, sliding gloves on to not incriminate anything and keeping his eyes peeled for anything. There were footsteps around and he made sure not to step on them in case they were connected to the killer. There were no visible signs of anything that could be connected to it, and the body did not appear to have been involved in a struggle from the surprised look on his face. Whoever had ordered the blast was fast and knew what they were doing, and had killed an innocent man for no apparent reason. Arthur was getting annoyed, déjà vu washing over him, staring around a serious crime scene but nothing to give him any hints…

That was when it struck him.

"This was where that building explosion was, wasn't it?" Arthur called out, and turned to see Jack and Nathan nodding. Arthur felt satisfied but at the same time harbouring dark emotions about what had happened here. He could recognise the sea view he had seen all the times he had come back here, hoping to find new evidence. These two cases must be connected somehow… it was unlikely, but Arthur had a feeling.

"The serial killer may be connected to the explosion," Arthur said, turning back towards his colleagues. "The warehouse was right around where I am currently standing. This could be some sort of revenge possibly…" He paused as he saw the looks his fellow cops exchanged, and Arthur's brows narrowed. "What is that look for?" Jack and Nathan seemed nervous and didn't want to come forwards, but Toby suddenly got to his feet and stepped forwards.

"Arthur, we all know you're retiring with a near perfect record," the photographer began, "and we know that not solving that explosion case was a real pain to you. But you can't just try and solve it now when you're finishing in less than twenty four hours!" Arthur was angry, and he suddenly swung a fist that narrowly missed. Jack and Nathan run forwards as Toby stepped backwards, none of them ever seeing Arthur look this mad.

"HOW DARE YOU!" He roared, his fists clenched up as the scene fell silent, all eyes turning towards them. Arthur had not been this angry for years, and knew leaving on a sour note would not look good, but he didn't care. The explosion had ruined an otherwise spotless career and nearly destroyed his life as he tried to find clues out of nowhere, tried endlessly to find answers from ash and rubble. But he had never tried to rashly connect that case to another, simply to calm his own mind.

"ANSWER ME! HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF SOMETHING SO AWFUL!" Arthur shouted, stamping his foot against the ground. "I AM A GOOD COP! I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! I AM NOT SOME OLD MAN TRYING TO MAKE MYSELF LOOK GOOD! IF YOU JUST LISTENED TO ME, THAN –,"

"Arthur," Jack said.

"SHUT IT!" Arthur roared back and stomped his foot again, not wishing to be interrupted. But as he stomped it a third time, the aging detective heard what was causing everyone to stare at the ground: a hollow thud, the kind you got when you knocked your hand against a wall with nothing behind it. Arthur stomped thrice more, and the echo occurred thrice more. He had surveyed this ground for years and had never found any traces of anything being underneath.

"Men, grab your guns!" Arthur commanded, putting his temper aside. The young officers ran forwards with powerful assault weapons, and Arthur pulled his own hand gun out. Jack and Nathan were in charge and moved around, leading the others as they kept stamping lightly, trying to find any clues. It didn't take long to see the ground shaking slightly in one area, and the men quickly advanced. Arthur could see on closer inspection that there was a slight gap around a square of earth, the grass on it looking different to that around. One of the officers grabbed the grass and heaved, pulling away to reveal a metal door in the ground.

"On my count," Jack whispered. In Arthur's day they would plan for hours how to do things properly and would storm a place with half the amount of weapons the men had today. But as Nathan quickly called for back up, Arthur could see that if they left now, whoever was in whatever was beneath could get away, and Arthur was looking forward to catching the criminal to outsmart him the longest.

"One… two… three… GO!" Jack shouted, and the trap door was heaved upwards. Guns were pointed down, but nobody appeared to be there. "POLICE, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" Jack roared. Arthur leant in closer to have a look, and they all got excited when they saw a figure move.

_Finally__… __after__all__these__years_, Arthur thought, leaning in as the figure came closer, guns pointed towards it … _finally__I__can__catch__this__bastard!_The figure began ascending, the moon hidden behind clouds and the person remained in darkness. They were all pointing their weapons at him, ready to take him in, but no one expected what happened next.

The figure froze halfway up the stairs, and suddenly a silver ball rose up into the air. Everyone froze, staring at this device as if it had just fallen from space. But as they stared at it, rainbow lights flashed around it, and Arthur knew it wasn't good.

"RUN!" He cried and leapt backwards, just as the ball exploded. A white wave poured out of the device, stretching out across the field, the body, the entire crime scene including those watching. Arthur could feel it over him, touching his body, and shivered as it soaked silently over him. The detective had never seen anything like this before, and wondered if he could even retire after this…

"So, you're the famous Arthur Reynolds, aren't you?"

The voice sent disgust through Arthur's body, but he couldn't help but turn to face who had said it. A man was standing over him, with black hair and a tatty white coat that had not been cleaned in years. This man had a foul look on his face, and was staring down at Arthur as if he was the last man he wanted to see.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked as he frantically stared around. All the men seemed to be disorientated, and looking back at the crowds they all seemed to be stumbling around a bit as well. The man didn't respond, simply raising a black PokeBall up and pointing it towards Arthur.

"You've ruined things for me, just like how you nearly ruined them with your investigation," he hissed, and Arthur tried to back away but the scientist stepped down onto his bad right knee, making Arthur scream. "You are not going to hide from me. In fact, your not leaving this position ever again."

"Are you going to kill me?" Arthur asked weakly, feeling all his courage from years as a police officer disappearing.

"Yes, I am going to kill you, and I am going to kill every officer here," the man said. "All the people over there will remember is the cop who got angry shooting the others with a powerful rifle before blowing his own head off. What a pitiful way to end such a glorious career." The man smiled, laughter rising up. Arthur began to scream for help, fear consuming his body, and could only watch as the PokeBall opened up. A Pokemon unfamiliar to him appeared, and Arthur screamed at its sickening demented body as it absorbed energy together.

The last thing Arthur thought was the irony of being killed now, before the Hyper Beam was released and all he could see was white.

**Look out for the next Interlude where what has happened in this one will be explained more. However, next time we begin the Cerulean City Arc. **


	30. Chapter 20: Playing the Training Game

**Last three chapters of the year starting with this one! The third will end with an interesting sort of cliffhanger to rival any soap opera ending :P **

**Chapter Twenty: Playing the Training Game**

"ThunderPunch, go!"

"Psybeam, now!"

Darwin leapt forwards, his right fist glowing yellow with electricity. His legs and tails were once again acting like springs, helping me to leap across the grassy field at a brilliant speed. Alaska watched intently, hoping the training she done with this for several hours in nearby trees would finally pay off.

"FREEEE!" Butterfree cried, and rainbow circles were fired from her glowing eyes. The Psybeam came towards Darwin, but he did a spectacular jump and spun around in mid air, the attack soaring beneath him.

"MAN MAN!" He cried, and fell towards Butterfree. She tried to move, but Darwin's fist hit her in her abdomen and the two came crashing down. Darwin landed on the tail but drove Butterfree to the ground, electricity charging through her.

"I think that will be enough for now," Alaska said. Darwin looked over at her reluctantly, but he raised his fist and backed off, leaving Butterfree sparking on the ground. Sandy made a worried noise and rushed forwards, pulling several berries and Potion bottles from her bag and instantly getting to work. Darwin looked at Alaska, who smiled and gave an approving bow, which the Mankey willing responded to.

It had been two days since the exploding Golem and Gideon's escape, but Alaska was forcing herself not to dwell on things. _What happens at the mount, stays at the mount _was her summary of the matter, and she and Sandy proceeded onto Route 4. To ease things for them, Alaska splurged on some of the money she had won from Brock to get help from two Move Tutors they saw training nearby. With some assistance from them, Paige added Aerial Ace to her arsenal, Darwin learnt ThunderPunch and Assurance and Butterfree gained Signal Beam and Psybeam. They were now spending most of their time training their Pokemon up, Gideon's Electrode and the overwhelming Clefairy a bit of a wake up call towards challenges they could face.

Alaska also wanted to get ready for her gym battle with Misty at the Cerulean Gym. Though they were currently on Route 4, where huge mountain peaks contrasted oddly with the many rows of trees and expansive fields of grass moving down the uneven slopes, Cerulean City was only a short way away, and Alaska wanted to be more prepared this time: if Misty tried to send her backing, someone was going to end up in the water, and it wouldn't be Alaska.

"Darwin definitely packs a punch," Sandy said as she picked Butterfree up, who was gaining back strength.

"I'd certainly hope so: we have spent ages training, haven't we?" Alaska replied, and smiled down at Darwin, who was simply chopping and punching the air and flexing his muscles, ignoring her. Alaska rolled her eyes and looked to the sky, where Paige was circling above them. "You can come down now!"

"Pidgey Pidge," Paige called and quickly soared down and landed smoothly onto the grass. Frances was on her back, one claw tightly holding onto Paige's feathers and the other covering her eyes, shaking slightly at the short trip into the skies.

"Was that not fun?" Alaska asked, and Frances shook her entire body fearfully before leaping onto Alaska's shoulders and burrowing her face into her shoulders. Alaska sighed and gave her a soothing pat. "I was hoping you would be able to take part in Cerulean, but if you're still too nervous, Paige and Darwin will handle it." Paige and Darwin both nodded, and Alaska smiled down at them before staring back at her shaky Paras. She had shown great power when she struck Electrode, and Alaska just hoped they would be able to work through it and build her strength up.

"Do you want to do any more training?" Sandy said as she continued to feed Butterfree berries. "Onix could really do with some –,"

"NO!" Alaska blurted, joined by a loud 'PIDGE' from Paige, and Sandy looked rather shocked. "I mean… I think we've got our moves sorted… Besides, I don't want to tire any of them out before the gym match."

"Oh, alright," Sandy said brightly. She let go of Butterfree, who quickly fluttered up into the sky, fully healed and looking bright. "If you're ready, should we head into the city then?" Alaska hadn't expected to be heading off so soon, but now that Sandy had said it, she could see there was not much pointing lingering around with nothing to do: her Pokemon were ready for it, and she knew that they could do a good job.

"I think that sounds like a swimmingly good idea," Alaska said, and she began walking, but Sandy had suddenly begun to laugh. She was giggling hysterically, and Alaska stared down at Paige, who looked just as confused as she did. "What's so funny?"

"You said… swimming… ly! And it's… a Water gym!" Sandy said, clutching her sides and looking as if she was about to roll onto the grass laughing. Alaska simply smiled and forced a laugh out, not wanting to upset her, but continued walking when Sandy continued to laugh for another two minutes. However, Sandy soon caught up, and she walked alongside Alaska with Frances still on her shoulder, while Darwin swung through the trees and Paige and Butterfree flew overhead. The day was gorgeous, and a gentle, soothing breeze blew through the route. Alaska enjoyed being in this very green route after their time spent underground, and savoured staring at the picturesque trees and then the glistening blue river that led towards Cerulean.

"Oooh, look, look!" Sandy blurted out after ten minutes of silence, and Alaska stared towards where she was pointing. An almost perfect semi-circular gap was in the mountain on the opposite side of the river, which was beginning to grow as it led towards the Cerulean Lake.

"Is there something special about that hole?" Alaska asked, not seeing why Sandy was getting so excited about things. The blonde haired girl sighed and gave Alaska a rather judging look.

"It's the Cerulean Cave," she explained in an exasperated voice. "Many powerful Pokemon live there that you won't find anywhere else, and it is said that the further you go into the cave, you will feel a powerful force getting stronger and stronger, as if it is trying to push you back." Alaska stared towards the dark hole, wondering what secrets were hidden within and what this powerful force was.

_No doubt it's some fossilized, Clefairy fuelled robot_ Alaska thought bitterly, and turned away from it, keeping to her decision to focus only on her journey and try to ignore anything else that came her way. Sandy, however, kept turning back to stare at it, even when the grass thinned away into bare ground, and the towering trees were replaced with small houses.

"Is that why you're travelling?" Alaska asked once Sandy had turned back around for the umpteenth time. "Just taking in the sights, enjoying the view, that sort of thing?" Sandy seemed surprised by the question, but Alaska was generally interested: if Sandy wasn't doing gym battles or anything like that, there had to be a reason why she had embarked on this journey in the first place.

"I've just always wanted to travel," Sandy replied quickly, wearing a smile on her face that didn't match the expression in her eyes. "Butterfree and I just decided we would go travelling a few months ago. We haven't really gotten that far though, but now that we're travelling with you, hopefully we'll see something some more sights!" Alaska smiled and nodded, but she could tell by Sandy's expression and her voice she was lying: her eyes looked nervous at the question Alaska had asked, and her voice was quivering slightly, going high pitched. The group continued to walk in silence, but Alaska couldn't help but wonder what Sandy was keeping from her, and why she felt the need to hide it from her.

* * *

Cerulean City was a much grander city than Pewter. It was much bigger for one thing, though it didn't had the air of being a coastal, holiday town to escape to. There were many more houses, but most of them were one storey and painted bright, calming colours. The roads were long and wide, and the businesses seemed to blend in to one another, including a bicycle shop that only stood out due to a large bike on its roof.

The main attraction, though, was the Cerulean Lake. It was about the same size of the city, though was a sparkling blue that lit up the area surrounding. Mt Moon to the left looked stunning, and the trees and surrounding grass made for a picture perfect scene. A dazzling golden bridge stretched from one side of the lake to the other, ruining the entire blue look but it still dazzled brilliantly.

Alaska thought the city was magnificent: it was much calmer than Viridian or Pewter, and it almost seemed happier. She and Sandy went and got their Pokemon topped up at the Pokemon Center, and everyone they dealt with was very friendly and kind to them. Alaska remembered how it had been crowded in Pewter, and she definitely preferred travelling through here, and everyone was very helpful in guiding them towards the Cerulean Gym, located next to the lake. Alaska and Sandy went straight there after their Pokemon had healed, and Sandy seemed more excited about going to the gym that Alaska was: she was just focused on getting this battle crossed off and moving on, getting closer to her goals and winning.

The Cerulean Gym instantly gave off the impression of being a water type gym. Not only was it situated in front of the lake, but the building was made entirely out of blue reflective glass that only gave distorted images of the world inside, much like viewing something underwater. It was quite a pretty gym, stretching out in front of Alaska and confirming thoughts that a pool would be located within.

"This building is sooooo cool!" Sandy said, shaking with excitement. Alaska did have to admit it was quite impressive, and wondered if this eloquent piece of urban design was revealing more of Misty to her: flash, stylish, very impressive, and possibly going to give Alaska a run for her money.

"Well, let's just get in and scope the place out," Alaska said, walking forwards. "There is bound to be some sort of challenge within, based on what Brock set me back in Pewter."

"Can you swim, maybe it'll have something to do with that?" Sandy said excitedly, and Alaska turned to reply, wondering if it was try. However, she wasn't focusing on the doors, and it wasn't until too late that she realised they weren't parting for her and walked straight into them.

"DAMNIT!" Alaska growled, stumbling backwards into Sandy and nearly falling to the ground. She felt her left cheek stinging with pain, and, remembering her trip through the sand, wondered if all gym leaders were trying to harm her. While Sandy gasped dramatically, someone suddenly began to laugh. Alaska looked around, wondering if her thoughts that someone following her were coming true, but than the voice spoke.

"One should always watch where they are going," a familiar voice said, and Alaska instantly recognised it as at the disembodied robotic voice that had spoken at Pewter Gym. Sandy shrieked at the sound, but Alaska simply looked at the glass, wondering where the voice was coming from.

"Do you talk to all the trainers or do you just annoy me?" She asked, the voice laughed again, making Alaska scowl. "When didn't the doors part for me?"

"Maybe there's another way in. Why don't you try diving into the lake and see if you shoot out through the water in the pool?" Alaska scowled again as the voice continued to laugh at her, and she was tempted to send Darwin out and have him break the doors down.

"Unless you want me to break in and reprogram you, let me!" Alaska growled.

"Oh honey, you may be nifty from a blog, but that doesn't make you a tech whiz," the voice said dryly, and Alaska was taken aback by this comment: how did this computer voice know about her blog? "I see I've startled you, how fun! You dwell on things for a while and let's see if Misty returns from her date with that swimsuit model."

"Is that why the gym is closed?" Sandy asked, not as interested in the blog comment as Alaska was. "That's a bit selfish of her! She is meant to be a gym leader, not carting off around town on dates like some cheap scarlet woman!" Alaska was confused by the mention of her blog, but hearing Sandy say 'scarlet woman' caused her to burst out laughing. "Where is she?"

"The scarlet woman is currently at Cerulean Cape at the end of Route 25," the voice said, "though I wouldn't disturb her if I was you."

"Well you're not me, are you?" Sandy huffed, as she grabbed the still laughing Alaska and marched her away. They had walked past the gym and were heading towards the open space of grass and dirt that led to the lake and its golden bridge before Alaska managed to stop herself from laughing.

"You heard what the robot computer thing said," she told the fuming Sandy, "and I don't really want the leader of my next gym challenge to be pissy with me."

"Well, this Misty woman should not be so darn selfish than, should she?" Sandy grumbled. "I don't like people that keep others waiting for their own selfish needs! She is a gym leader and should be ready to gym lead at any time!" Alaska could see Sandy's point, and now that she was over her hysterics and pushed her questions about the blog and the voice behind her, she did want to get a bit lippy with Misty, and marched forwards alongside Sandy, ready to find Misty.

However, it seemed they were going to be held up.

As the two girls stepped foot onto the golden bridge, which had a small plaque alongside saying 'The Nugget Bridge – Reopened 2008', they instantly froze. Sandy looked nervously across at Alaska, who was clutching onto the golden sides next to her, either as support or trying to tear it off and use it as a weapon for the hideous sight in front of them.

The reality stars were once again in front of them

**Don't worry: the next chapter will stray away from the usual reality star bit, so hopefully no one will groan that they are back again**


	31. Chapter 21: A Bitch on a Bridge

**Second to last chapter of the year! I hope you enjoy**

**Chapter Twenty One: A Bitch on a Bridge **

"Are you going to be alright?"

Alaska smirked as Sandy finished speaking, listening to the six words that uttered from her mouth: _Are you going to be alright?_ Alaska stared towards the people in front of her, being filmed as they dunked fishing poles into the water, and she dwelled over the question. She did want to charge forwards and ram a fishing pole down Chloe's throats, but that was a more broad thought. Staring at Amanda as she walked between them with her eyes on a stopwatch, Alaska realised that she was the one who really deserved to be punished. A feeling of rage burned through Alaska that she had never felt before. She wanted to see Amanda suffer, hurt her, just like she hurt the Clefairy…

But this went entirely against Alaska's new found promise. She was not going to get involved in any dramas that were not related to her becoming the best. The only thought she should be sparing to them was how, in the end, Alaska would have defeated Red before them and they would have no choice but to go up against her.

"I think I'll be fine," Alaska said chirpily, and began walking forwards once more. "Let's just focus on finding Misty. That's the only reason we're crossing this bridge, isn't it?" We're just going to find Misty, ok?" Alaska growled through gritted teeth, and Sandy simply smiled and nodded alongside.

"Finding Misty, right," she said, and the two girls walked determinedly forwards. The people all seemed too focused on whatever their current task was to notice them, and Alaska was certain for a second they would slip past unnoticed. But Amanda suddenly turned around, mouth open to say something, but it dropped further when she saw who it was. Damian suddenly looked up as well, his pole loosening in his hand.

"Alaska…," he said simply, and Alaska avoided his eye, but only to find Chloe turned around with such speed and with such a foul look on her face you'd think someone had just called her fat.

"Well, well, well… are you sure you should be on this bridge?" She hissed. "I heard gold melted whenever a poor person touched it."

"Really? That's fascinating," Alaska said with a false smile and kept on walking, shoving past Amanda and letting her feet carry her away. The camera crew quickly parted as well, and Alaska eyed the green fields on the other side, wondering where they would go to find Misty.

"Running away are you?" Chloe called out. "Lost all that courage and determination? Won't you even stay for a battle?"

"If I stayed to battle you Chloe it would only last a second, so piss off," Alaska called back, and Chloe's laughter followed after her.

"Really? Don't you want to see my new Pokemon?" There was the distinctive sound of energy gushing from a PokeBall, and Alaska found herself pausing, curiosity unfortunately getting the better of her. Sandy stopped in front of her, glancing behind and looking shocked, but as she opened her mouth to warn her, Alaska turned around.

It was a Clefairy.

What a cruel joke it was, staring down at the pink, fairy like Pokemon standing before Chloe. The blonde was laughing her face off, and even Amanda was cracking a smile, staring across at Alaska with a sort of sick pleasure. Alaska felt like turning away, never to see them again. She felt like running forwards and punching them all in the face. But she knew why Amanda was smiling, why she wasn't trying to send Alaska away: it was a test. They were going to see if they could break Alaska, rule her out as a threat that could keep ruining their show. Alaska wanted to punch them but could also see what a smart move it was.

"You don't have to do this," Sandy whispered, but Alaska reached into her pocket and pulled a PokeBall out. She did have to do this. She wanted to make sure they feared her and stayed out of her way, not the other way around: she hadn't asked to get involve in any of this, but they kept dragging her in.

"Bring it," Alaska growled and dropped the PokeBall. It wasn't until too late she realised it was in fact a Great Ball, and it wasn't until Frances formed that Alaska cursed under her breath.

"Para?" Frances said, turning around in fright, and Chloe and Amanda continued to laugh, making Frances back away. Lachlan remained on the sides, clearly not side to take on this matter, but Damian was walking up to Chloe.

"You don't have to do this," he hissed to her, but Chloe just laughed.

"I want to see what Avocado is truly made of!" She cackled, and Alaska felt like throwing her into the ocean. She got down on her knees and looked at Frances, who was quivering in fear from the Clefairy.

"I know you haven't been in a battle before, but if you pull through this, I won't send you into one again until your ready, okay?" Alaska said softly. Frances looked at the Clefairy, possibly remembering the mass that had stormed towards her at Mt Moon. She nodded, though it was possibly just her body shaking, but Alaska accepted it. Chloe stopped laughing once Alaska got back up, and as the two girls stared at each other furiously, Alaska was certain Frances would battle her hardest.

"POUND!" Chloe shouted.

"Stun Spore from close range, go," Alaska said. Clefairy ran forwards, still smiling in a rather sickening fashion, and leapt up a fist raised high. Frances stared up in shock and released the yellow spores from her mushrooms.

"Fairy," Clefairy said and spun to avoid them, though crashed against the supports, ending her move. The two Pokemon were near each other now, and Frances back away to the opposite side.

"Magical Leaf!" Chloe commanded.

"Leech Life," Alaska called, hoping a Special move would be better for her. Clefairy waved her arms into the air, which glowed a bright green, and suddenly leaves were fired from them. Frances backed away to try and avoid them, but there was no chance of dodging a Magical Leaf and they battered into her.

"PAR PAR!" Frances groaned, and fired a lime green needle from her claws at Clefairy. It struck her in the stomach and suddenly began to drain energy from her body. Clefairy collapsed to the ground, weakened by the loss of energy, and Alaska could see that Chloe was becoming frustrated with the battle.

"Use another Pound, end this!" She yelled. Alaska was not sure if Frances could survive a Pound or not, and knew that they needed to unlock the amazing power she had possessed back against Electrode.

"Hit her with Metal Claw, just like at Mt Moon!" Alaska commanded. Clefairy was already running forwards, fists raised, and jumped up once again. Frances stared fearfully up at her, and Alaska wasn't sure what she was going to do: would she turn and run away, take the attack, or manage to fight back?

"PARAAAAAS!" Frances cried, her right claw glowing silver, and she swung it as Clefairy came closer. Everyone watched in surprise as Clefairy was sent rocketing down the bridge, nearly bowling Chloe over, and crashed and rolled into the wood. Amanda's jaw dropped once more, Chloe looked murderous, but Alaska felt a warm, satisfied feeling flow through her body.

"That was brilliant Frances!" Alaska boomed, and the Paras nervously nodded, a slight smile crossing her face. Damian and Lachlan were both staring at Frances in shock, and the cameraman was exchanging shots between a disappointed Chloe and a smug looking Alaska.

"Are we quite done here?" Sandy said behind her, and Alaska couldn't help but laugh as she turned around to face her friend. She nodded and turned back to scoop up Frances, waving happily at the stars, savouring this victory.

"Come on than Sandy, let's get going," Alaska said, and turned back around.

In that split second, that was when she saw it.

It had happened so fast, Alaska thought she had imagined it. But a figure clad in black had been watching her from a small forest on the next route. The figure disappeared as soon as Alaska saw them, and she knew she had to follow after. Alaska began walking without explanation, ignoring protesting shouts from Chloe and questions from Sandy, and simply walked. The last time she had followed a black, shadowy figure had not ended so well, but Alaska had a feeling that this was different, that whoever this person was they were important. The robotic voice in the Beedrill's nest and the fact she was certain someone had been watching her somehow tied in to whoever was now in the forest, and Alaska kept on walking.

Things seemed to happen in a blur as her mind and legs moved quickly: one moment Alaska was still on the dazzling Nugget Bridge, the next she was in a field of grass that reached her knees. The forest looked dark and intimidating, but Alaska simply dived into it, her mind focused on finding this figure.

Instantly there were in near darkness, and Frances began to shake with fear. Alaska soothingly patted her as she turned around, every tree identical, the floor scattered with natural debris that had no footprints. There was a thumping sound and Alaska turned expectedly, but only found Sandy falling between some trees, looking red in the face and rather annoyed.

"What are you doing?" She puffed. "We are meant to be finding Misty! Is this the way to Cerulean Cape?" Alaska wasn't sure if she should divulge her true intentions to Sandy, and had actually forgotten all about Misty. However, she heard something crack up above and turned, something definitely moving in the darkness.

"Yes, it's a shortcut," Alaska said, and began power walking once more. Sandy had to jog in order to catch up, not putting together that Alaska was simply following the sounds of cracking twigs and shuffling feet, occasionally catching glimpses of the dark figure as she navigated the tricky maze of trees.

_This better be worth something… _Alaska thought bitterly as a pain rose up in her side, wondering if following aimlessly after a random figure in the trees was an intelligent move after all. However, as they rounded what felt like the fiftieth bend, Alaska could see light shining brightly up ahead: the exit from this maze.

"Finally!" Alaska and Sandy said simultaneously, both sounding rather winded, and they burst out into the bright light. It seemed as if the forest was just a mild break in the routes, as this new area looked almost exactly the same: a wide field of green grass that could have stretched on forever. This area was rather bare: a single house was built between rows of trees, and two ponds were twenty metres away. The way back to the city, according to a sign, involved either a hike up a grassy hill, going back through the forest or walking a narrow path along the side of the hill and next to the lake. Alaska was not going back until she could find this figure, but as she wheeled around, she realised that no one seemed to be around. No black figures sticking out against the green and blue, no one waving to her whilst folding a large file titled JUICY SECRETS… nothing. It seemed that this trek had been a waste, which Alaska was about to say to Sandy when her friend cried out.

"Look, there she is!" Sandy cried, pointing forwards. Alaska turned curiously around, wondering what she was on about, but than saw it: a head of fiery red hair on the top of a hill. They had found Misty, and Alaska checked the sign again to see that it did indeed say 'Cerulean Cape'.

"Shall we go and say hello?" Sandy said grumpily, still angry with the gym leader. Alaska sighed and nodded, deciding to forget about the strange shadowy figure for now. As Sandy went storming off, Alaska took a deep breath and cleared her head, putting her attention back towards gym leaders and battles and Pokemon. She then hurried after Sandy and groaned at having to walk up the hill, beginning to feel puffed from her chasing after the figure.

"OI, MISTY!" Sandy cried out, her usual airy voice replaced with something loud and grumpy. Misty turned around, looking rather shocked and confused, and Alaska got her first look at her: slim, young, possibly only a few years older than her. She was wearing a light blue dress that flowed down to her knees and complimented her ginger hair nicely. After seeing Brock and his rather determined face, Alaska didn't think Misty quite looked like a gym leader, but thought this was probably just due to her date.

"What do you want?" Misty asked, giving Sandy and Alaska a curious look. Her handsome blonde date looked rather confused as well, and Alaska now felt a bit guilty for interrupting things, and knew it wouldn't play well for her in at the gym.

"My friend here arrived at your gym for a battle," Sandy explained angrily, "only to find _you _had gone off on some date, leaving a rather mean voice to guard your gym! I think that is disgraceful gym leadership, and I demand you battle my friend at once!" Misty's eyes narrowed and she looked between Alaska and Sandy, her beautiful face slowly getting much angrier.

"I am allowed a personal life, alright?" Misty snapped, advancing forwards and wagging a finger at Sandy. "I don't need someone's cheer squad to come and bother me into battling! I'll be one more hour, than I'll be back at my gym, okay?"

"That seems fair enough," Sandy said, "but it's still not good leadership!" Misty was looking angry and Alaska stepped forwards to say something, but Misty simply turned around to face her.

"What's your name?"

"Oh, Alaska. I didn't mean to –,"

"I will see you for a two on two battle at my gym in one hour, alright?" Misty growled, and Alaska nodded. The gym leader grabbed her date's hand and stormed off, muttering in a carrying whisper about having to deal with annoying challengers. Alaska sighed and flopped down to the grass, allowing Frances to scuttle down and settle down herself.

"Just what I need: a leader to be pissy with me," she sighed, and stared out to the ocean. It was a dazzling blue that looked so cool and inviting, and Alaska was tempted to leap over the cliff and into the waters below, washing all her dramas away and simply swim, wondering if one of the other regions would be less dramaful.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to get her angry with you," Sandy said. Alaska nodded and smiled up at her, and Sandy smiled back, sitting down next to her. "Well, we have an hour to kill… want to get some last minute training in?" Alaska laughed and fell backwards into the grass, shutting her eyes.

"Frankly, I would rather just have a little break," she said. "There is too much drama in my life: maybe if I simply sit still, no one will try to kill me or get me involved in anything. I am just going to sit here and wait for that battle, and hope nothing interrupts me before then..."

"ALASKA!"

"Fuck."

"Is that –?"

"Yes… it's him," Alaska growled. She simply paused, wondering if the voice had been in her head or simply a particularly high pitched gust of wind. But when she opened her eyes, Alaska was disappointed and a little frightened to see Mitchell standing over her, his smile wide and eager as always. She wondered if he was going to challenge her to a battle, or if his Pokemon had fallen into a giant pond of robotic Magikarp, but what her old neighbour actually said was one of the most interesting things she'd heard all week.

"You have to come with me now. Bill wants to see you."


	32. Chapter 22: This is Why I Failed Science

**Here we are: the last chapter for the year! **

**Chapter Twenty Two: This is Why I Failed Science **

For all Alaska had heard about scientists and their magnificent laboratory's, she was highly disappointed.

Accepting what Mitchell had to say had been a relatively easy decision for Alaska: she was bored, had time to kill from the battle, and wanted to do something interesting after the disappointment that had been her failure to find the shadowed figure. Whilst she was reluctant to go anywhere with Mitchell, the name Bill still had some effect over her. Everyone in Kanto knew who Bill was: creator of the PC Storage System for Pokemon and a technical genius that helped all the professors with their inventions (and was a well known Pokeathlon competitor, but the scientific community generally ignored this fact about him.) He was getting old though, and had not made a public appearance in a while. Alaska was deeply intrigued to see how he knew of her and why he wanted to see her, and also to check on his sanity if he was working with Mitchell.

"Mr Bill is very very awesome!" Mitchell had explained eagerly as he escorted Alaska and Sandy towards the lone house. "He was very willing to answer all of my questions about PokeBalls and the storage system and that sort of thing and do you want to battle my later?"

"Maybe… possibly… we'll see…," Alaska replied in a forced smile, rather thrown by the sudden topic change and asking herself if Mitchell's Pokemon were as hyperactive as he was. They had approached the house, and it did not look impressive in the slightest: plain white paint, a red tiled roof, blue window frames, a series of potted plants and flowerbeds outside, nothing except for a satellite dish giving off any signs of being the home of an internationally known scientist.

And stepping in didn't change this image.

The home was basically one large open space that was practically empty. A kitchen was built into one corner, a bed in the other, a couch and television opposite and a table in the final one, complete with two computers, a filing cabinet and a large amount of paper. The middle had absolutely nothing asides from a large dirty rug, and the only things giving the pale blue wallpaper any life were a series of photos and trophies from his Pokeathlon days and science awards.

"This is it?" Alaska said, not realising it was aloud until Mitchell and Sandy both turned to her. "Well… I was expecting something a bit grander from a scientist… you know what I mean?" Mitchell and Sandy simply looked confused, but after a while Sandy began to nod.

"Yeah… I would expect there to be giant lasers or a catty super computer that provides funny one liners, like that one in that sponge show…," Sandy saw the amused look Alaska face and stopped talking. "Where is Bill anyway?"

"He was here when I left," Mitchell said in a highly defensive tone that seemed to shock Sandy, but Alaska had to deal with this tone in the past and simply sighed. Mitchell was always the first person to get blamed if something went wrong, and he would deny it even if he was covered in mud that also covered a previously sparkling white wall hours before. He had taken it upon himself to automatically defend everything someone said that was even slightly accusatory, and Alaska wondered how he would fend in battles with people that hadn't been paid to deal with him: most trainers would probably forfeit and leave to avoid the annoyance.

But just as Mitchell sat down on a ratty old sofa, a section of the wall suddenly slid open, revealing a sparkling white bathroom and a man moving forwards. Alaska was fairly impressed with the first sign of advanced technology in the scientist's house, yet was not impressed with the scientist himself: Bill was gaining in the years, with tufty grey eyebrows, a heavily wrinkled face and grey hair that was only at a rather wispy state. He was dressed in a blue tracksuit that hugged a mild pot belly and it looked as if it hadn't been washed in a while. Alaska was becoming fairly unimpressed, and hoped he wasn't just some old codger who wanted to show off his trophies to an aspiring trainer.

"Ah, you must be Alaska Acevedo, yes?" Bill said, smiling widely as he advanced forward, and Alaska simply nodded as she shaked his hand. "Splendid! I thought I recognised you when you walked past, but I'm afraid my body isn't as healthy as it use to be and I needed to rush to the lavatory, though it seems Mitchell was fast in getting you two here." Mitchell's sulk turned into a wide, goofy smile at the praise, and Alaska simply nodded, though was for the second time today thrown off by someone (well, something) mentioning her name: the voice knew about her blog, and now Bill stated he recognised her. Alaska was beginning to feel uneasy about this trip and wondered why the old scientist knew about her at all.

"You looked rather stunned my dear girl," Bill said, staring at her inquisitively as if she was a specimen. "Feeling ill? Mitchell be a good boy and fetch us some of those lovely juice boxes from before." Mitchell leapt to his feet and ran to his bag, searching through them to procure a series of orange coloured juice boxes.

"I'm fine," Alaska said, remembering the overly sugary drinks that were half the reason for Mitchell's uncontrollability. Bill nodded, but took one for himself and passed one over to Sandy, who seemed rather excited to have one. As they opened their juice boxes, Alaska decided it was best to get things over with. "Why did you invite me here? How exactly do you recognise me when we've never met?" Bill was rather taken aback by the assertiveness, but smiled as he slurped at the drink.

"My dear, everyone whose anyone in Kanto knows who you are," he said, and Alaska found herself not comforted in the slightest by this. Bill seemed to notice this and pulled his drink away from his mouth. "That incident at the museum has set alarm bells ringing in all the right places. Our world has been at peace for these past three years since those dreadful events at Sinnoh, and no one is looking forward to one mad scientist coming back and trying to ruin things. Mark Hansom was quick to spread the word about you and how you managed to prevent Gideon from taking anything, and I thought I would congratulate you in person for such a –,"

"Gideon got the fossils," Alaska said bluntly, and Bill froze in mid sentence. Alaska quickly explained what had happened at Mt Moon, and with each word Bill's jaw got lower and lower. When she reached the part of the exploding GolemBot, the juice box crashed to floor and sprayed its contents everywhere, causing the sleeping Frances to awake. Bill looked flustered when Alaska finished explaining, and quickly rushed towards his computer.

"Well, I must say I am very glad I brought you over," he said quickly, starting his computers up. As one of the screens flickered to life, Alaska found herself being taken aback: a website was open on Bill's computer, with a black background and white writing, and it could have been any old site except for the simple white banner that Alaska had roughly made in two minutes: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps.

It was her blog.

"Oh… yes… I should have been more up to date with your up to dates," Bill chuckled weakly, minimizing the blog and turning back to Alaska. "Well, at least everyone else will know about this now. I broke my phone the other day when I was trying something out, and my assistant is to busy to get me a new –,"

"You're all reading my blog?" Alaska said, her voice a combination of anger and confusion. Bill simply nodded, his expression showing that he wasn't expecting her to react this way.

"The elite people of Kanto don't know exactly what is going on all the time, and after we did some research into you following the museum, your blog came up and we all decided to follow it to make sure you were alright," Bill explained. Alaska was getting confused and moved towards a stool near the kitchen, collapsing and placing Frances on the bench. Sandy came forwards with a juice box that Alaska snatched without word, stabbing the straw in, imaging it was a knife going into Chloe, and drank the contents in one long gulp, everyone watching her in silence.

"It is very interesting to see that the 'elites' of our region have nothing better to than then read my blog," Alaska said at last, throwing the empty juice box aside. Sandy and Mitchell remained in silence, but Bill simply laughed as he walked over to Alaska, giving her a firm pat on the shoulder.

"It does make for very fine reading," he said with a smile, and Alaska simply nodded, becoming too confused to really focus on anything. She never thought her blog would become the centre of insight knowledge for everyone in the world, and it sort of made her promise to herself to stay away from all this seem selfish if all these people were relying on her to get the knowledge for them.

"So, let me just clarify things a bit," Alaska said. "Because I fought Gideon at Pewter Museum, everyone is reading my blog?"

"Correct."

"And everyone is afraid that Gideon is going to destroy the peace?"

"Right again."

"And as he has the fossils, that makes things worse?"

"Much worse." Alaska nodded and sighed, staring at Sandy or Frances for support, but nothing came her way.

"Are they going to do anything about Gideon?" Bill looked rather uneasy at this question, which Alaska took for an instant 'no'.

"Well… no one knows where he is," the scientist explained, and Alaska allowed a single laugh to escape her lips: these elites really weren't very good if they couldn't find the person threatening to destroy the world. She wondered how long before they dropped Alaska and her laptop in remote areas and expected feedback. "We all thought Gideon had died in an explosion when Red, Leaf and Blue stormed a base he was at the Sevii Islands. Only two Rocket grunts escaped alive, and we have been following them but they slipped and only recently came back on our radar."

"Wait a minute… Rocket grunts… does that mean Gideon worked for Team Rocket?" Alaska said, feeling her heart skipping a beat. Flashes suddenly filled her head: she had not been in Viridian at the time, but the news images of army tanks advancing towards the Pokemon League, Pokemon moves colliding and exploding, the flash of gun fire. Sandy and Mitchell gasped as well, and Bill's face sunk.

"You didn't know that either… ah… I really must call someone to explain things to you," Bill said. "I would myself, but I have a meeting soon, but I would if I could…," Bill paused and sighed, rubbing his head and drinking more of his juice box. "I am sorry you got involved in this Alaska. I hope you know that we are looking out for you and there is protection in place, but I personally would feel better if you had some firepower on you." Alaska was once again taken aback by the mention of protection, wondering if the shadowed figure had anything to do with it, but the mention of 'firepower' got her interested.

"What firepower?" Sandy asked curiously. "I don't see any weapons around here."

"They were saying how your really boring and don't have any cool gadgets!" Mitchell said in a high pitched, tattling tone, and gave Alaska a jeering smile. Bill simply laughed and walked towards the computer desk, grabbing a small black remote.

"My assistant Daisy doesn't like me getting involved with weapons at my age. She is afraid I might blow a hole in the roof… again," Bill said with a smile. "However, I thought I would keep a few things, just for when she isn't around." His smile widened as he pressed a button, and suddenly the house shook. Frances hid on Alaska's shoulder as a bit of floor panel opened up, and the dirty rug was retracted into the ground. Alaska, Sandy and Mitchell all ooohed and aaahed as an empty black rectangle appeared, but the whirring continued as items began to rise up.

Several metal tables consisting of many different levels were piled high with a variety of gadgets, ranging from objects the size of a cell phone to missile launchers and black boxes that undoubtedly were full of surprises. There was a giant touch computer that could fulfil Sandy's idea of a talking computer. There were slim machines with nozzles and many buttons, bulky machines that only had keyboards, and machines that resembled stereos and car batteries and television aerials on top of a large metal ball. Everything looked so high tech and fancy that Alaska felt her brain cells running away in embarrassment. She felt her eyes drawing towards a machine in the very center of the rising platform, with nothing else around: it resembled a silver lamppost, but instead of two light bulbs it had two holes leading into the machine, and there were a series of buttons and a small screen on the actual body.

"What are these things?" Alaska said, walking forwards and reaching out towards the lamp post looking machine. Bill slapped her hand away, his expression half serious and half smiling.

"I wouldn't touch that one if I was you," he said, and pulled Alaska towards one of the tables were Sandy and Mitchell had gathered, staring in awe at the various devices on display. Each one looked like it had cost millions of dollars to build and was more advanced than anything Alaska had ever owned or probably would own.

"You are going up against a scientist that has spent about five years off the radar, and what he did during that time no one knows," Bill explained as he grabbed one of the metal boxes and pressed a button, causing it to open up. "It is clear that he can teleport, so he will undoubtedly have other weapons." Bill pulled what looked like a silver rocket launcher out of the box, though it was much smaller, but it still caused Alaska's jaws dropped in surprise.

"This does not have any bullets or explosives in it," Bill explained, "but it does have things that will save you in a safe manner: smoke bombs, stun guns, mild electric shocks, flares. It even has a feature that will prevent certain Pokemon moves from hitting you and another that will fire a sticky substance to trap someone."

"Oh my god, this is so awesome!" Sandy said excitedly, looking at some of the attachments that were inside the box. "I wasn't even allowed a water gun as a child!" She reached out to grab something, but Bill beat her hands away and closed the box, looking serious. Alaska felt the fun and excitement she shared with Sandy getting sucked away, feeling a serious discussion coming on.

"This is not a toy: this is a weapon to be used only when necessary," the scientist explained. He was so focused on them he didn't notice a bored Mitchell wandering off to examine the other machines. "I must make sure that this weapon is going into the right hands, so I would like you to test it quickly." Alaska hated having to earn respect: it was so tedious and whenever she did something wrong, she would get that irritating judging _I expected better from you _look. But the gun was shiny and obviously packed a punch, and Alaska looked forward to being able to blow something up in Chloe's face and claim she was coming at her with a knife.

"Just each of you send a Pokemon out over there and than move backwards," Bill explained, and he himself threw a PokeBall over. An Eevee formed near the front door, and as Sandy made an 'awwww' sound, Alaska felt her heart melt a bit at the sign of the adorable Normal type. She looked at Frances, but saw she was hiding behind the toaster, and sent Paige out instead, knowing having things fired at her wouldn't scare her. Butterfree joined the three, and they got around introducing each other. Alaska noted Mitchell eyeing up the lamp post machine and was going to say something, but Bill passed the gun forwards and her attention shot back to that. It was so small to have the power and abilities it had, much like some of the Pokemon Alaska had met. She grabbed the gun and turned towards her Pokemon, Paige and Butterfree looking rather stunned, though Bill's Eevee must get shot at regularly as she didn't flinch.

"Don't hurt them!" Sandy whispered.

"Don't worry, this setting we are going to try first is entirely harmless," Bill said, and had Alaska hold the gun up as if she was trying to shoot someone, and the scientist turned the nozzle so it was at a certain setting. "This is simply going to show how it can deflect simple moves or those used from weak Pokemon. The Pokemon will attack, and you pull the trigger and hold it at the attack, alright?"

"I think so," Alaska said, though hoped she didn't misfire and end up getting hit with a Twister. "Paige, use Twister!" Paige seemed rather confused by what was going on, but nodded and began spinning around. Bill raced forwards to put paperweights on his work as Eevee and Butterfree moved away. Alaska stood poised and ready, hoping things would work.

"PIDGEEEEE!" Paige cried, and the Twister flew towards her. Sandy squealed as Alaska tensed up and pulled the trigger. She felt the gun shudder and watched through half closed eyes as a wavy but clear barrier rose up. It stretched to the size of about five dinner plates, and the Twister crashed into it. Alaska thought she was going to fly backwards, but the barrier caused the attack to break apart, no longer harmful.

"WOOO!" Alaska cried, letting go of the trigger and letting the barrier fall away. Sandy was clapping and cheering, and Bill smiled widely as he walked back over to him. "That actually felt pretty cool to deflect an attack myself… without using brownies." This seemed to confuse Bill and Sandy, but they ignored it as the success of the first trial swept through them.

"Can I have a turn?" Sandy asked pleadingly.

"Alaska will have a try with the other two Pokemon, than it will be yours," Bill said, and Sandy nodded and moved away. Alaska wasn't sure if she would even let Sandy have a turn, this weapon far too interesting and fun. She raised it up as Eevee walked forwards, and was waiting for Bill to command an attack when they all heard it: a loud beeping coming behind. Every head turned instinctively to the source of the noise, and they gasped as they saw Mitchell pressing several buttons on the lamp post machine.

"MITCHELL, NO!" Bill screamed, and the little boy turned around.

"I'm not doing anything wrong, just touching!" He said grouchily, but he didn't seem to notice what everyone else could see: two balls of light forming where the lights should be, causing all other items in the house to flicker and fizz.

"DUCK!" Bill screamed, and as the elderly man jumped to the floor, Alaska knew it was bad. She threw the gun into the box and shoved Sandy to the floor before rolling aside herself. Mitchell suddenly screamed as he realised what was happening, but as Alaska looked up, she saw it was too late as bolts suddenly exploded from the light. There was no where to hide to avoid them, and Alaska simply froze, hoping the bolts wouldn't hit her. Paige, Butterfree and Eevee were crying out, and Alaska made the mistake of looking up.

The bolt struck her directly in the head, and Alaska let out a scream as she experienced a pain she had never felt before. It felt as if she was being torn from her body, and all Alaska could see was a strange mix of black and white lights flickering around her. For a moment she felt her scream stop, possibly blacking out from the pain, but a moment later she was on the floor, the pain stopped but still feeling confused. She looked around and saw Sandy and Butterfree, but couldn't see Paige anywhere.

"Is everyone alright?" Alaska said, and got to her feet. Well… she thought she had gotten to her feet, yet the ground seemed to be a lot closer than it had been before. "Has that stupid machine turned me into a toddler?" Butterfree was moving in front of her, giving her a very strange, judging look.

"Alaska?" She said, and Alaska nearly jumped out of her skin: was it just her, or had Butterfree just spoken English… in Sandy's voice? Alaska raised a hand to prod her, to check if things were real, but than she screamed as she looked down and saw she didn't have hands.

She had wings.

Instinctively Alaska began looking around for something reflective, and then remembered the toaster Frances was hiding behind. She leapt up their, her new wings flailing, and scuttled across the surface with her talons. Alaska saw a figure stir alongside, and screamed once again when she saw herself moving upwards, rubbing her head.

"No way, this cannot be happening…," Alaska said, and she stared at the toaster: brown and cream feathers, pink talons, peak, beady black eyes, long yellow and pink plumage.

Alaska had somehow turned into Paige. She stared at the toaster for a minute, not sure quite what to say or do, but managed to produce two words she never thought she'd hear her starter say.

"Oh balls."

**Possibly not the cliffhanger many of you were expecting, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. Thanks to everyone who has read this throughout the year and those fans who have offered their take on each chapter and given me some helpful advice. I hope you continue to enjoy this series next year! It will be back late December/early January, and I hope to have gotten to the end of the Vermilion Arc by the end of January, where there will be new Pokemon, more of the mysteries revealed, and more one liners that I hope I'm not the only one who finds amusing :P Thanks once again and see you all next year (unless you read my other work, than see you very soon :P)**


	33. Chapter 23: Life Swap, Pokemon Edition

**Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season, but the start of 2012 means it is time to join Alaska, Paige and Sandy once more - I am sure you are all suffering from withdrawals without her catty one liners and your holidays probably didn't involve being chased by gigantic Pokemon robots, and if they did, then you need to find someone else to spend your holidays with. Anyway, enjoy, and here's hoping to a grand year of 8ES! :D**

**Chapter Twenty Three: Life Swap, Pokemon Edition **

There had been many things that had happened in Alaska's relatively short life that had caused her a great deal of surprise – the time her brother Edward cut his hand and blood spurted everywhere, the time a Ponyta ran in front of her when she was riding her bike, a storm that occurred when they stayed at her aunt's house in Johto and the roof nearly crushed her. Even things that had happened over the journey had caused her a great deal of surprise, ranging simply from seeing Mitchell was going on one as well to being chased down a collapsing tunnel by psychotic Clefairy.

However, nothing came to close to discovering you and your Pidgeotto had switched bodies.

"What the FUCK is going on here?" Alaska yelled, staring into the toaster and picking at herself with her wings, trying to make sense of what had happened. She looked to the right and saw herself staring back at her in surprise, though Paige was simply making her usual noises. Alaska clutched a hand… wing… something to her head and looked around, seeing Frances was staring out from behind the toaster with a petrified look on her face. Alaska looked down to see Butterfree was hyperventilating, and felt some mild relief to know that Sandy had been swapped as well, but that didn't stop her confusion. Sandy's body was getting nervously to her feet, Butterfree clearly not knowing what to do with being in such a larger frame.

"Bill, what is going on?" Alaska yelled and stomped forwards on her clawed feet, not realising she was walking straight off the edge of the bench. She screamed as she feel, frantically flapping her wings to try and steady herself, but ultimately landing face first on the tiled floor.

"Pidgeotto Pidge?" Paige said, and Alaska merely sighed as she looked up at herself staring down at her in concern.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Alaska growled as she got back to her feet. She was annoyed about once again having something crazy happen to her, but Alaska simply wanted to fix things now before they got too out of hand and she ended up going off the deep end. She began to walk forwards, not trusting her new wings but at the same being annoyed at seeing things from this low angle. Bill's Eevee was walking towards her, the man himself slumped up against on of his metal tables, the stuff that had been piled high now lying on the floor.

"Now you listen here!" Alaska shouted, pointing a wing up at the scientist. "Sandy and I came here because you wanted to thank me and give me a weapon and all that jazz, but this has just turned into yet another bloody mishap, and I won't stand for it! Whatever happened, I want to be changed back RIGHT NOW!"

"Alaska, my dear," Bill said next to her, but Alaska screamed and leapt backwards once she realised that it was actually his Eevee that was talking. "Alaska, I am sorry you have gotten caught up in this," Bill continued, rather unbothered by the switch, "but giving you a weapon is necessary to help protect you in case Gideon or anyone else goes after you. And as for the Brain Switch, I am very sorry for that, I never intended for that to help," and Bill turned towards the lamp post like machine, which Alaska looked up at as well. Her short term memory had been slightly frazzled, but Alaska could know remember seeing Mitchell hitting buttons.

"MITCHELL!" Alaska yelled, flapping her wings so furiously that she slowly took off into the air, but landed with a thud once she realised what she was doing. Mitchell timidly stuck his head out from behind a table, looking nervous as the two Pokemon with human brains looked angrily up at him, Eevee even getting to Bill's feet. It was his fault that the machine had gone off, causing this 'Brain Switch' as Bill had dubbed it, and Alaska was going to let him have.

"Sorry…," Mitchell said sadly before she could snap, hanging his head in shame and staring down at his feet with a pout on his face. "I didn't mean too… it was an accident!" He added, and even let out a little sob. Eevee's face relaxed at the apology, but Alaska tutted: she had seen Mitchell pull this trick a thousand times before when she babysat him. Whenever his mother began to tell him off, Mitchell would apologise and begin to cry, and would get an 'it's alright' and a hug, the blame than being shifted to Alaska, sometimes resulting in her losing part of her payment. But once Mrs Melton had left the room, Mitchell would grin evilly and go back to being happy. Alaska had always hated this happening, and she wasn't going to let it happen this time.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time Mitchell!" She yelled, and turned slightly to see Butterfree dragging her own body forwards as Sandy continued to hyperventilate from the shock, and Paige was struggling to move Alaska's body, Frances resting on her shoulder.

"But I am sorry!" Mitchell whined, clearly not pleased with his apology being rejected.

"Our brains have switched!" Alaska growled. "If you hadn't meddled with the buttons and tried to get attention like the immature little shit that you are, than maybe I wouldn't suddenly be covered in feathers!" Alaska's words ringed through the silent room, and all eyes turned between her and Mitchell as the young boy began to sniff. Though she didn't want to feel guilty, Alaska couldn't help but feel bad as Mitchell genuinely began to cry: he was fairly sensitive and didn't like being criticized or upset, and Alaska's words were incredibly harsh by his standards.

"Fine then!" He huffed as he grabbed his bag. "Be a big meanie Alaska, see if I care!" Bill raised one of Eevee's paws in an attempt to stop him, but Mitchell was already heading for the door and angrily slammed it shut behind him, making Frances cower on Alaska's shoulder. Bill sighed and gave Alaska a look, and she shrugged her wings.

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have gotten angry, but this is his fault!"

"Pidgeotto Pidge Pidgey," Paige said in a scolding tone, but Alaska didn't notice as she was still amazed to see and hear those words coming from her own lips.

"I would go after him, but I would rather get my brain switched back!" Alaska said, and turned back towards Bill, though was surprised to see the actual man rolling his eyes whilst Bill shuffled one of Eevee's paws against the ground. "What is it now?" Alaska sighed, leaning against the table and putting a wing to her head.

"One of the reasons why my assistant Daisy doesn't like me using all these machines is that the power grid isn't particularly strong," Bill explained awkwardly. "It will take a while to get it going again, but Eevee, well, myself and I will go and examine things and I'll see if my Jolteon can help out."

"What are we supposed to do?" Alaska snapped. She knew coming to this lab would end up going bad, though she hadn't expected this to happen and looked up at herself, seeing Paige's eyes staring out from where her own should be.

"Do whatever you like, but just don't meddle with anything," Bill said. Alaska thought this command was rather amusing as it was coming from the mouth of an Eevee, but her amusement didn't last long and she simply sighed and looked back up at herself and Frances, who seemed rather petrified by all of this.

"Shall we go after Mitchell then?" Alaska said, and Paige nodded her head. "Alright then – you fix the mistake and we'll go and fix mine," Alaska called back to Bill, who simply shook one of Eevee's paws in a 'whatever' sort of motion and disappeared through a side door with his body. Alaska began to hobble forwards to the door, and Paige had managed the basics of walking with a much larger body and wobbled after her, Frances clinging on for dear life. Butterfree was much more capable of getting control of Sandy's body, and scooped herself into Sandy's arm, Sandy still hyperventilating.

"What is your problem?" Alaska asked as Paige tried to open the door but struggled with using hands, and Frances had to shakily crawl down and turn the handle with a claw. Sandy simply continued to breathe deeply, and Butterfree mumbled something to Paige who nodded in agreement. "Alright, don't tell me then!" Alaska tutted, and stepped out of the door once it was open.

Unfortunately for her, the wind had picked up.

Alaska let out a shriek that almost sounded like Paige as a burst of wind struck her. It didn't feel cold, mostly due to Paige's feathers providing insulation from it, but Alaska still felt a sensation as the wind picked her up around her wings and sent her flying. It was the same feeling Alaska had experienced whenever she flew to Johto to visit her aunt and the small plane took off into the sky, but her lurching stomach and spinning body didn't feel that nice and Alaska was pleased when Paige managed to catch her.

"Cheers," Alaska wheezed, shocked by the experience, and even more shocked to find her own hand touching her but not feeling it: it was an eerie sight that would stick with Alaska, but a Pidgeotto was a bit too big to fit in a one hand and Paige put her down on the ground.

"Butter Free Free?" Butterfree asked.

"Hmm….," Alaska said in response, looking around for any sign of Mitchell. He clearly hadn't gone up the cliff, so that left them to turn right and examine the area. "I say we split up and look around the lake and the forest we ran through before. They are really the only places he could have hidden." Paige and Butterfree nodded their respective trainer's heads, but whilst they agreed there was a gulping noise that surprised Alaska.

"Spl-spl-spl-split up?" Sandy said, standing up in her own arms and staring down at Alaska. "We can't possibly sp-split up!" Alaska didn't want to deal with Sandy and her slight insanity at the moment, but she could see Butterfree's big pink eyes shaking with worry, and could even see a slight hint of Sandy's bright green eyes in them.

"Alright, fine," Alaska said with a slight sigh, figuring it was best to just move and find Mitchell before he did something silly, and made a mental note to ask Sandy about things later. "Let's just get moving than, shall we?" Alaska's temper was being pushed to its limits at the moment, and she really just wanted to get things fixed and be over with the bad memory.

"Pidgey Pidge!" Paige said, and Alaska watched in shock as her body suddenly leapt upwards, her arms flapping madly. Alaska's face looked petrified a few moments later, and everyone moved aside as Paige caused her body to crash to the ground, causing Frances to fly off and crash to the ground.

"Paige!" Alaska scolded, kicking angrily at the sand as she squabbled over to check on Frances. The Paras was shaking violently as she got up the right way, and even scuttled in fright as Alaska approached. Paige's face scowled at Alaska's body, was continued to lie in the sand, and Paige raised her hands in apology.

"Free Butter Butter," Butterfree said, and Sandy nodded Butterfree's head.

"I know it's a bit of a change, but I don't have wings sticking out of my back to fly with!" Alaska snapped, but caught Sandy and Butterfree both sniggering as Alaska had flapped Paige's wings in her annoyance, contradicting her point. "NOT USUALLY!" This day was simply getting more annoying, and Alaska was not in a mood. Silently she began to storm off through the grass, expecting the others to follow along behind her. She wasn't going to wait for them, or for anyone else. Alaska was letting too many things get in the way of her journey, and she needed to stay focused on her gym badges. Misty would be waiting at her gym around about now, not that Paige had a watch on her wings, and Alaska didn't want to have to explain to the gym leader, who would already be annoyed with her 'Sorry I'm late, but my brain got switched by that Bill guy.'

"Who even makes a fricking Brain Switching machine anyway?" Alaska yelled, and furiously kicked out with Paige's claws. However, she hadn't realised that she'd been walking towards a patch of long, dark green grass, and was surprised when Paige's claw collided with something.

"BEEEEELLL!" The something cried, and Alaska leapt backwards as the others rushed over. Alaska had no idea what she had walked into, but stared in shock as what appeared to be a large yellow flower rose out of the grass. "SPROOOOOUT!" The thing cried, and Alaska backed off as the yellow bell walked forwards, revealing a body that resembled roots.

"It's a Bellsprout!" Sandy exclaimed, and she rose up from her own arms only to fall and land directly on top of Paige's body. "Oops… sorry!"

"Even with wings you can't help but fall on me, can you?" Alaska grunted, pushing Butterfree's body off with Paige's wings. The thing called a Bellsprout has its weedy arms raised as if going to fight, but the fact that a Pidgeotto and Butterfree had just spoken English seemed to stun it and it froze. Sandy brushed dirt off Butterfree's body before turning towards Alaska and giving her a stern look.

"Apologise to the poor Bellsprout!" She said. "You shouldn't have walked into her!" Alaska didn't particularly want to, but she could see her and Sandy's faces looking stern as well and knew she had no choice and turned towards the shocked Bellsprout.

"Sorry for walking into you. I'm just in a bit of a mood," Alaska said and made Paige's body smile in a clearly forced way. The Bellsprout simply mumbled 'Bell Bell' in a rather confused manner, and Alaska took that as acceptance. "Alright then, let's go!" She said and began walking past the grass, her body following behind her with the petrified Frances.

"Hang on a moment Alaska!" Sandy called out, and Alaska growled as she came to a sudden stop, Paige nearly tripping over her. They all looked back as Butterfree's body moved towards Bellsprout, who still looked stunned by everything. "Bellsprout, have you seen a boy come by here? Light brown hair, white skin, possibly weeping, holding a large bag?" The Bellsprout was still stunned by things and simply blinked in shock.

"Butter Free Free Ter," Butterfree said, which caused Bellsprout to leap up in shock: humans talking in Pokemon was just another big surprise for the Flower Pokemon. However, Butterfree's words seemed to reassure it and help understand what Sandy had said.

"Bellsprout Bell Bell Sprout Bell," Bellsprout said, and moved forwards by flailing her legs in a way that nearly made Alaska laugh, but she held it in as Bellsprout led the way. Everyone quickly followed behind, and Alaska was rather glad they were now making progress. "Sprout Bell," Bellsprout called, stopping by a sign that read 'CERULEAN CITY' and had an arrow pointing in the same direction that Bellsprout's root arm was pointing in.

"That's the path around the lake," Alaska told the others. "Mitchell must be heading back towards the city, so I say we move quickly before he runs off." All heads nodded except for the petrified Frances, and Alaska turned and smiled at Bellsprout. "Thanks for your help," she said, and Bellsprout's large yellow head twisted in a smile. Alaska turned, catching a brief glimpse of the shining blue lake as the wind caused ripples across its surface, before staring down the muddy path towards Cerulean.

But than she stopped.

Alaska could see Mitchell, and felt a brief second of relief to have caught up. However, that faded when she saw the person he was talking to: Chloe, with the rest of the reality group coming up behind. And, just as Alaska began to silently scream in her head and turn around, she saw Mitchell turn and point towards them, and Chloe's triumphant face looked up, her smile growing as if she had just got her mortal enemy in a very weak form.

**It possibly wasn't the most exciting thing to start the year with, and the stars appearing has become a drag, yes, but I promise the next part will be much more enjoyable. **


	34. Chapter 24: My Monkey, My Enemy, My God

**Chapter Twenty Four: My Monkey, My Enemy, My God….**

"Shit shit shit, run!" Alaska hissed under her breath, and began flapping Paige's wings desperately to shoo them all away. However, Sandy had walked forwards before Alaska had begun whispering, and didn't know why they were being called back.

"Mitchell's right there Alaska!" She said with a tone that signalled she would have rolled Butterfree's eyes if she could, and Sandy kept moving forwards. However, she froze as soon as she saw Chloe walking briskly forwards, smiling deviously, and Sandy desperately tried to back track so they could all leave, but it was too late.

"Well well well," Chloe cackled as she stared down, wearing the same expression she wore when she had verbally torn into people at their school, "look what the great Alaska Avocado has been reduced to – a meesly little Pidgeotto! HA – where's your fighting spirit now?"

"Pidge Otto Pidgey!" Paige snapped, advancing forwards in Alaska's body but wobbled nervously, simply causing Chloe to laugh loudly. Alaska was proud of Paige for sticking up for Pidgeotto's being insulted, but her bad day was simply getting worse and she didn't want to have to deal with Chloe bloody Carmichael of all people, nor give her the satisfaction of being currently superior.

"Listen Chloe, just piss off," Alaska snapped, trying to sound as angry as possible to make up for currently being feathered, though could see the rest of the crew and Mitchell were coming up behind. "This is just a mistake and I want to get it over with, which means I don't want to deal with you!"

"You don't get to call the shots here!" Chloe snarled though her face remained joyous. "Whose currently the human, eh?" Alaska simply sighed and clutched Paige's head with her wings, wearily looking up. Damian, Lachlan and the camera crew all looked rather shocked, but Amanda was hovering next to them with a look that seemed to say her Christmas had come early, and the words she hissed in the cameraman's ear were clearly 'Get this all on film.'

"I would let you go and deal with this later, but you have been embarrassing me on film for far too long now," Chloe said, a touch of acid creeping into her words now. Alaska had seen this from Chloe before: wearing a smile on her face as she told other girls and boys at the school how they amounted to nothing less than shit on her shoe. Alaska wasn't going to let it get to her, but could still see how Chloe's eyes burned with rage.

"If you don't want to be embarrassed than maybe you should have signed up to a show where you're actually good at what the main task is. I hear that adult channel is starting a new reality show to find the next big porn star – that sounds about right up your alley," Alaska hissed back, and Chloe let out a shriek before kicking out. Her aim meant only dust got in Alaska's eyes, and Paige's body was adapt to ridding things getting in her eyes in mid flight and it was much quicker to blink them out.

"Once again, I'M in the position of power!" Chloe yelled, bending down and glaring directly at Alaska. Her presence was rather intimidating to those that were weak, meaning Sandy was hanging back and not coming to help, while Paige and Butterfree weren't adapt to their current bodies enough to get in a fight. Alaska could see the cameraman was filming things as Amanda beamed deviously and jotted things down on a touch device, nearly blocking Mitchell as he peered at the scene. Alaska was frustrated about how the day was going, and having Chloe shout in her face while everyone else stood back wasn't helping things.

"I am going to battle you now," Chloe continued to growl, "and you are going to fight in a way that suits me this time, alright? I am sick of you defeating me and making me look like a fool, so let's see how you like it!" Alaska was in no mood for a battle, especially as she was currently a Pidgeotto, and wanted to do something to get Chloe off her case and head back to Bill's lab and see if he was done. She wasn't quite sure how to ease things for herself at first, but as Chloe continued to lean over her Alaska got a brilliant idea: it was something that she would _never_ get away with as a human, but as a Pokemon…

"You want to battle me?" Alaska snapped, bending Paige's legs. "How's this for suiting you?" And Alaska sprang up, beak wide open, and before Chloe could react Paige's beak was biting down on her nose.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Chloe screamed and flung her body upright and shook her body, but Alaska simply chomped down harder and twisted. The sickening crack as Chloe's nose broke was enough to make up for all the annoyance Alaska had gone through today, and she felt pleasure in hearing Paige, Butterfree and Lachlan laughing, as well as the terrified shrieks of Amanda.

"STOP! HER FACE NEEDS TO BE IN PRISTINE CONDITION," the producer yelled. "IT'S ONE OF HER BEST ASSESTS!" Alaska suddenly found the woman's hands grasping around her body, and Chloe stopped spinning and simply cried as Alaska bit down harder on her nose.

"IT HUUUU-HUUU-HUUUURTS!" Chloe whined, and Alaska felt good and jiggled the bone around a bit as Amanda pulled.

"Let go you blasted bitch!" She hissed and squeezed tightly on Paige's midriff. Alaska gasped as she felt her Pokemon's body get squished, making her gasp for air: a Pidgeotto didn't have a tough body like an Onix or Machamp for example, with feathers the only major protection. Amanda continued to squeeze, and the more she did the more Alaska became concerned that her oldest friend could end up with a serious injury to her ribcage. Alaska tried shaking free, but only Paige's wings weren't contained by Amanda's increasingly tight grip, and Alaska would soon be forced to let go of Chloe's nose as she fought for air. She had to fight back against Chloe, but wasn't sure how in Paige's body…

Than it hit her: if Alaska was in Paige's body, did that mean she could control her moves? Alaska had never thought much about what caused Pokemon's moves, but now that she was in this position the thought occurred to her. Did the moves need Paige's brain to control them, or were they more body than mind? Amanda's hands continued to squeeze down on Paige's body, and the cameraman was moving in closer, and Alaska had to act now.

_Concentrate on the wings… _she thought, and squeezed her eyes in concentration. A sensation rose up on the left side of Paige's body, and Alaska nearly let go of Chloe's nose as she gasped: the power rising up in the wing was almost breathtaking. Alaska could feel the energy in Paige's body, her body, her mind moving towards the wing. It felt orgasmic in a rather strange way, and Alaska savoured the surge as the left wing began to glow silver.

"Alaska Ka Alas," she mumbled mockingly and swung Paige's Silver Wing backwards. Alaska felt like the body was well and truly hers as the wing soared backwards, but gasped as it went for the wrong target: the cameraman had unfortunately gotten too close, possibly urged on by Amanda, but now he couldn't escape in time and could only watch as the wing smashed through the expensive piece of equipment. The Steel Wing was powerful, and the camera stood no chance: it shattered into two large pieces, with one of them being tossed by the force of the wing. Amanda screamed and let go of Paige's body in order to raise her hands, the camera smashing into them. Alaska had a seemingly sick sense of pleasure at the pain being caused, but need to draw air in and opened Paige's beak to breath, allowing Chloe to flee.

"Are you alright?" Damian said, walking forwards and looking concerned. However, Chloe simply screamed and cried, blood streaming down her nose. Alaska thumped to the ground and looked up, beginning to feel bad and wondering if she had gone too far this time. She looked up at Amanda, though the producer was uninjured and simply furious, and than Alaska faced her friends. The Bellsprout seemed rather stunned by things, but Sandy, Butterfree and her own face simply looked normal.

"Did I possibly take things a few notches too high?" Alaska asked sheepishly, but Sandy shook Butterfree's head.

"It may have been a bit gruesome, but Chloe was being horrible to you," she said, "so I think she can live with the pain a bit." Alaska felt more reassured after this and turned back towards the stars: the boom operator was wiping the blood away from Chloe's nose, which seemed to have not been broken after all and Alaska had simply bitten down on the less bony part of her nose. However, Chloe was furious all the same.

"KILL HER, THROW HER IN THE LAKE!" She roared, staring more at Damian and Lachlan as she spoke. "DEFEAT HER FOR ME!" Alaska tutted at the way she was ordering them all around and wanted to give her a piece of her mind. However, Damian and Lachlan were exchanging looks, and Amanda was silently scowling at them, the look on her eyes enough to cause pressure: clearly, one of the boys was expected to come forth and battle Alaska.

"You can defend honour as much as you like, but there ain't no camera to prove it," Alaska snapped. She still didn't fancy a battle, especially now that they would probably fight rather viciously. However, Damian gave Chloe a gentle pat on the back and walked towards them. Paige and Butterfree moved their trainers bodies forwards to defend them, but Damian raised his hands in a sort of surrender before getting down on one knee.

"Alaska, if one of us doesn't battle you, than it will be bad for us and even worse for you," he whispered so no one else could hear, and Alaska noted some genuine fear in his voice. "Let's just have a brief one-on-one battle, and than we can move on Amanda can just accept it." Alaska was stunned to hear him talk about it being bad for him as well, and wondered if Amanda had been threatening them over Alaska. She didn't want Damian or Lachlan to get hurt unnecessarily, as they had always seemed a lot nicer than Chloe, and she gave Paige's head a brief nod.

"Come on Frances, let's battle!" Alaska called as Damian moved backwards to mark out a field. However, as Alaska turned Paige's body to face her, the Paras clambered down Alaska's back, staring out with a terrified look: clearly the battle with Clefairy hadn't improved her confidence as much as Alaska had hoped, and facing off against Damian seemed to have her frightened.

"You aren't going to be able to use Paige, well, yourself, to battle," Sandy pointed out, and Alaska nodded grimly: there was only one choice for this battle, and she wasn't happy about it.

"Paige, would you mind sending Darwin out please?" Alaska asked, and Chloe let out a short laugh before moaning with pain and clutching her nose. Alaska grinned to herself as Paige used Alaska's hands to reach into and grab Darwin's PokeBall. It seemed that, similar to how Alaska had used Paige's moves, Alaska's fingerprints still activated the PokeBall, sending the Mankey out onto the field. Alaska turned around as he began to form, and could see Amanda was smiling once more and whispering to the boom operator. Lachlan stood by Mitchell, who still looked upset, and Alaska realised that if she ignored everyone and let him run off she might not be in this mess, facing Darwin as Damian sent his Charmander onto the field.

Though Alaska hadn't shared these thoughts with Sandy or Paige, she had written in her blog briefly about her concerns about Darwin. She was beginning to notice his impulses and seeming desperation for battling and have a strong fight, and was wondering if at some point Darwin would begin to get too strong for her liking.

"Alright Darwin, let's just make this short and sweet, alright?" Alaska called out. Darwin turned around, staring down at Paige's body looking immensely confused. "I'll explain later," Alaska said irritably, "but just defeat the bloody Charmander so we can go home."

"Key Man Man?" Darwin said, a slight smile crossing his face as he stared down at Alaska: his long springy legs meant he was taller than Paige, and Alaska didn't like where this was going.

"Just turn around and focus!" She snapped and looked towards Damian. He was standing there silently, as was his Charmander, ignoring the shrieks coming from Chloe with suggestions of what to do to Alaska. For once, Alaska was stunned to see that a member of the reality crew actually appeared focused and organised on the battle itself rather than simply on thoughts of victory.

"This battle is an one on one," the cameraman said, his tool now in a large plastic bag and was resorting to using Amanda's hand held device to film. "First Pokemon to faint loses – go!"

"Karate Chop, go!" Alaska shouted.

"Dragon Rage," Damian commanded calmly. Darwin instantly jumped forwards, a hand raised above his head ready to bring it down on Charmander's head. However, the Fire type moved quickly, opening his mouth wide as a ball of purple fire formed.

"CHAR!" He yelled, the ball flying forwards. Darwin was going to get hit directly unless he moved and fell into the lake or hit the raised ground next to them, or somehow stopped the move. Alaska was pleased when the Mankey brought his hand down, ready to cut through the attack and then struike Charmander. However, as Darwin hit the Dragon Rage, everyone on Alaska's side gasped as the ball of fire erupted.

"MAN MAN!" Darwin yelled, the force of the explosion knocking him backwards and caused Alaska to flap Paige's wings and fly a metre away to avoid getting hit.

"Are you alright?" Alaska asked nervously. Darwin was clutching his sides and rubbing his head, sitting in the middle of the dirt and looked grumpy. He leapt back to his feet without replying to Alaska and stared angrily over at Charmander. "I know it must not feel good for a weaker Pokemon to nearly defeat you, but you need to focus on defeating him! Go in for another Karate Chop, alright?"

"Brick Break, aim for his legs," Damian commanded, and everyone watched as Charmander began to run forwards looking fairly determined as he raised his arm up. He had proven to be a bit of a threat and Alaska wanted Darwin to wrap things up quickly, but was stunned to see he hadn't moved.

"Darwin, I gave you an order!" Alaska said sternly, her mind racing as she realised her fears were coming true. Darwin simply shook a hand to tell her to stop talking, and Alaska turned and looked at the others, and saw they were as shocked as she was.

"Ha ha, looks like someone isn't doing a very good job!" Chloe sneered, her jeer muffled by the ice pack covering her nose. Alaska was annoyed that Darwin was making her look bad and ignoring her orders, and wondered why he was when Charmander was coming up so close…

"KEY MAN!" Darwin suddenly shrieked, and he pounced forwards with his arms outstretched. Charmander had already gone down to aim for his legs, and suddenly had the Mankey rising over him. Alaska gasped as Darwin grabbed Charmander's middle with both hands as he began to land on one leg, and than raised him up and spun.

"I said Karate Chop, not Seismic Toss!" Alaska yelled, but Darwin ignored her as he spun Charmander around. Damian, Lachlan, Mitchell and the crew all looked shocked, while Amanda seemed furious at this move. Suddenly, Darwin stopped and let Charmander go: he flung through the air and crashed into the shallow parts of Cerulean Lake, thankfully only skidding through mud and not getting his tail caught in the water.

"What were you thinking?" Alaska cried as everyone else fell silent. "Charmander's can die if their flames go out, do you know that?" Darwin once again wasn't listening, and Alaska could only watch as he suddenly leapt forwards, fist glowing yellow with electricity. The cameraman was too stunned to stop things, and Damian, who had been moving forwards to check on Charmander, froze in his footsteps.

"MAAAAAN!" Darwin yelled and leapt over the mud, moving forwards and driving his ThunderPunch into Charmander.

"MANDER CHAR CHAAAAR!" Charmander yelled as he was blasted back onto dry land by the force of the punch and the electricity affecting the water around him. All eyes followed as Charmander crashed onto the ground with a loud thud, and rolled over before coming to a stop by the cameraman's feet. Silence fell between them, with everyone in Alaska's line of vision staring at Charmander looking purely shocked.

"Charmander is unconscious – Alaska and her Mankey are the winners," the cameraman said, still staring at Charmander, and he slowly lowered the device down to his side. For a single second Alaska was glad to have won, but that victorious feeling disappeared as she looked up at Damian's shocked expression and guilt rose up instead: he had offered to battle to make things easier for her, and in return Darwin had nearly killed his starter. Alaska glanced over at the Mankey to see he looked rather pleased with himself as he squelched through the muddy water.

"Darwin, what the hell –," Alaska began to scold; marching forwards on Paige's talons, but froze in surprise as Darwin began to glow. Everyone turned around as Darwin's arms and legs thickened, his tail shooting back inside his body. His main body seemed to grow as well, and Alaska watched the evolution, unsure wheter to be happy or worried with her misbehaving Pokemon getting stronger.

"PRIIIIIIIMEEEE!" Darwin shouted as the light faded, revealing the Mankey had grown into a Primeape, with shaggier fur, boxing glove like hands and a short stumpy tail sticking out of his back. Alaska put on a happy face as Darwin walked forwards, and was partially excited but secretly concerned: some Pokemon were more difficult to train once they evolved and got stronger, so what if her new Primeape became reluctant to obey her?

"Congratulations!" Alaska said, allowing Darwin to scoop Paige's body up and rush towards the others, his arms outstretched. Alaska and Sandy's faces both looked considerably concerned, clearly still shocked by the battle, but Butterfree's face was full of happiness as Sandy saw the evolution as good news.

"That was a fantastic job!" She said, and Darwin pulled her in and hugged both her and Alaska, nearly squeezing their brains right back out. Alaska relaxed a bit now that Darwin was so happy, and was beginning to feel good when she heard clapping from behind. Darwin turned around to face Amanda strutting forwards, doing the sarcastic slow clap Alaska had seen in so many movies. The producer didn't look angry, more with a bored irritated look as if her peace was being interrupted by something buzzing overhead. Alaska noticed Damian had brought his Charmander back and was looking at her with a strange look that tugged at Alaska was some reason, but she had to focus on Amanda and stared at her determinedly.

"Congratulations indeed: I am so pleased you got an evolution through such shady methods," Amanda purred, coming to a halt. "I do hope you are proud of that battle, and the fact you just attacked one of my stars."

"Excuse me?" Alaska snapped back. "Need I remind you of those Clefairy you killed back at Mt Moon, not that you need it after that little jab with Miss Nose-Job over there back on the bridge. So don't even try and pull some little 'oh, feel bad' guilt trip on me unless you want some real trouble." Amanda raised an eyebrow and took another step forward.

"Miss Acevedo, I think I know a few more ways to deal pain than you do," she said, her tone threatening and not matching her devious looking eyes. Alaska thought back to Damian's comments earlier and decided that Amanda needed a lesson in not intimidating people. An idea quickly formed in her mind, and Alaska used Paige's wings to get free of Darwin's hold.

"You don't scare my Amanda, and I can very easily show how capable I am," she hissed, and jumped into the air with her eyes shutting, forcing Paige's body to spin. She concentrated with all her might as she continued to spin, and Alaska began to feel that same powerful feeling engulfing her once more, but this time covering Paige's entire body and moving all around. There were screams, and Alaska hoped it was from the Twister rising up around her. However, Alaska didn't realise what it was until it hit her…

Something powerful coursed through Alaska's mind, something so strong that her eyes opened and Paige's body stopped spinning, but this thing kept her upright: it was blue electricity that covered her entire body, and Alaska could feel the shock waves coursing through her brain. It was the same pain she had felt only a short time ago, and Alaska was glad to finally be free…

For a few moments Alaska blacked out, though she could still feel the painful electricity surging through, and it felt as if her brain was about to explode. Alaska's mind spun around and around and she temporarily felt airless before spinning once more, though it slowly began to die down. Alaska felt more familiar, and she opened her eyes suddenly to find blue sky high above and the Bellsprout peering over her.

"Bell!" Bellsprout cried as Alaska shot up, but she ignored her as she looked forward and beamed: Darwin was a few metres in front, and as he moved around in shock, Alaska saw Paige lying on the ground.

"YES, IT WORKED!" Alaska yelled and she made to move forwards and hug Paige, but suddenly noticed something clinging to her arm and looked down. "Oh – sorry Frances!" She cried, staring down at the nervous Paras and realised that when their brains switched back, Alaska's body must have fallen and nearly crushed the poor little thing.

"Par Par Para," Frances mumbled shakily, and once Alaska was certain she was alright she rushed towards Paige, who was beginning to get to her talons and rub her head with her wings.

"Pidgey Ot Pidge Otto," Paige grumbled as Alaska scooped her up.

"Hey, my body is perfectly healthy, thank you very much!" Alaska snapped back, but there was a smile on her face and she hugged her friend tightly.

"MAN!" Darwin yelled and piled on top, and Alaska began to laugh as Sandy rushed forwards with a high pitched squeal, already hugging an unimpressed looking Butterfree and joined in. Alaska had no idea how the electricity had managed to reach them from this far away from the lab, but she didn't want to look back, simply keep moving forwards and focus on the path ahead. Being in her Pokemon's body had been a very interesting experience, and Alaska was actually glad for it: she had seen things from a different angle, even if for only a short time, and having this meeting with the reality stars simply highlighted the fact they were a major blockage in her quest, and though they had inspired it she needed to ignore them.

"I don't see why you bothered switching back," a voice snapped from outside the giant group hug, and Alaska looked up as Chloe walked forwards, Amanda still standing behind looking a bit shell shocked. "Frankly Avacado, you looked better as a bird!" Alaska simply rolled her eyes and pushed out from the hug. She wanted to tie up these loose ends and push the stars aside for the time being, and decided it was best to leave them with something to remember her by.

"You know what Chloe," Alaska said, standing a few feet in front. "Fuck you," she spat out, and Chloe looked rather stunned. "Fuck you, fuck your producer, and fuck your entire fucking show. I really don't give a crap about you people anymore, and even though I should battle you more often as it seems to do wonders to my Pokemon's confidence to defeat such pathetically trained opponents, I have bigger things to deal with then some future $5 stripper and a middle aged hag who probably hasn't seen anything below a man's neck that wasn't on TV." In the background Damian looked stunned, but Lachlan, Mitchell and the crew were trying hard not to laugh, and Alaska felt fairly satisfied as she smiled widely at Chloe's opened jawed expression.

"You bitch!" The blonde hissed, and she raised a fist up above her head. However, Alaska had been expecting something and lashed out: her own fist struck Chloe's already injured nose and the reality star toppled backwards. Her arms flailed as she tried to balance herself and they clasped around Amanda's neck. The producer and her star collectively screamed as Chloe dragged them down towards the lake. Sandy gasped whilst Paige cheered as the two splattered down into the mud, Chloe even skidding down towards the water. Alaska wanted to whoop and cheer and flipped the Pidgey at them and kick more mud in their faces, but she decided to take a more dignified approach and turned smiling back towards the others, seeing the Bellsprout had come alongside Sandy and looked shocked as well, but the others were all laughing and cheering at their demise.

"Come on you lot," Alaska said, her glee creeping out into her face and voice, "I feel like a proper battle – anyone up to fighting Misty?"

**Hopefully you found that more eventful than the last part! This is the last we will see of the reality stars for the time being until well after Vermillion City**


	35. Chapter 25: The Water's Fiery Mistress

**Here we go: another gym battle! Strap in, because it is a long and bumpy ride!**

**Chapter Twenty Five: The Water's Fiery Mistress **

"Ooooh, back again are we? I thought you would have at least been on time – Miss Misty is _not _very happy with you, but you'll see for yourself, won't you?"

"Oh shut up!" Alaska snapped at the robotic voice as it began laughing at her, and she strutted determinedly into the Cerulean Gym, well aware how angry Misty would be and knowing that the reason why she was late wasn't exactly the best or most believable story.

It had been nearly half an hour since switching back, but Alaska and Sandy both seemed to have trouble walking. The switch had given them both headaches as well, though they had managed to numb them off during a short lay over in the Pokemon Center as they healed their Pokemon, including the Bellsprout that had pointed them towards Mitchell in the first place: Sandy didn't want to leave it behind once Amanda and Chloe extracted themselves from the mud, knowing the producers history will lashing out at Pokemon, so the pair now had six Pokemon between them. Sandy offered her to Alaska to use during the battle, but Alaska wanted to stick with her own Pokemon and get a feel for them rather than using someone else's. Darwin and Frances both had moves that were of a type advantage, but as Paige had just been through an ordeal, Alaska decide to focus on taming Darwin and using the strength gained from evolution and have Frances on the sidelines for back-up, fingers crossed she would be up for it.

Paige and Butterfree needed longer to heal, but once everyone else had been topped up Alaska decided to go ahead to the gym. She felt a bit more confident for this one: Alaska had a good team and she knew they could do wonders, and had a good feeling that this battle would go well. Sandy kept rattling on about support and some moves and how she and Bellsprout would cheer on the sidelines, but Alaska kept her mind focused entirely on the battle as they approached the blue reflective glass that made up the Cerulean Gym.

After snapping at the disembodied voice, Alaska and Sandy stepped through the sliding glass doors, which now operated, and stepped forth into the world. Instantly Alaska stepped in a puddle, but her mind was focused more on the gym around here than beneath her: the gym did look a lot like a public swimming pool. There were benches on either side of them and on the opposite wall, painted a lovely blue and provided enough seating to fit the entire town three times over. Alaska had read that Misty and her gym trainers sometimes put on water shows for the town, and she noticed large television screens around the gym to provide a view of the world below. The rest of the gym was rather bland, with areas marked off for changing rooms for both genders, an office for Misty, a staff room, a spa and relaxation area and an events section.

The main attraction, of course, was the pool several metres in front of them. It was currently empty, allowing the still water to sparkle and reflect the glass and the large hanging lights overhead. Though there were several sections marked out for special classes held by Misty, the majority of the pool was open with the only divisions came from large ropes with plastic bits on them to mark out lanes. Alaska couldn't see any sign of a place to battle on. She was about to point this out to Sandy when a door slammed somewhere in the building, echoing around the high ceiling.

"Well well well, look who finally showed up!" A voice snapped, and the two girls turned around as Misty strutted out from her office, accompanied by two girls in blue and white swimsuits with 'Cerulean Gym' on the back. Misty herself was wearing a light blue swimsuit made of a more reflective, plasticy material that reflected the light, and her ginger hair hang around her shoulders dripping wet. It was quite strange for noise to suddenly be around them as the rest of the gym was empty, and Misty's footsteps echoed as she stepped through the puddles that had formed around the edge of the pool.

Alaska would have liked to have been as brave and tough as she usually was, but she was slightly afraid to be on the wrong end of a gym leader scorned. They were strong trainers that had powerful reputations and were idolized within their own cities and abroad: they could do whatever they wanted as long as it was legal (or so Alaska hoped) and she knew that Misty would take no mercy in their battle after having her date interrupted.

"You know, if you went to all that trouble to come and bother me, you could at least have managed to make it on time," Misty growled as she walked around the edge of the pool, staring directly across. Alaska glanced over and saw she was walking towards her end of the pool they would be battling on, so she and Sandy began to move to the right, their eyes not leaving the red head.

"We were held up," Alaska called out. "I would have liked to be have been here earlier, but Bill wanted to talk to me, and than this machine activated and –,"

"Brain switch?" Misty asked, and began to laugh as Alaska's eyes bulged in shock. "It is unfortunate to say that many people have gone there, and many of them end up pressing the button on that machine. I myself have had dealings with it, but that's for another time." Alaska was intrigued by this, and hoped that the shared experience would lessen the tension, but once Misty's laughter died she went back to scowling, still annoyed over the date. Sandy hadn't been shocked at all by Misty's comments, and simply scowled back at her as if Misty had personally insulted her.

"I would have come straight here after we got switched back, but than I wanted to heal my Pokemon, and I only have two of them here," Alaska said, and Misty scoffed.

"Only two Pokemon? Please – I expect most trainers to at least have four on them when they arrive here," she tutted and laughed shrilly. Alaska began to get annoyed and scowled back at her, annoyed at constantly having her lack of Pokemon pointed out to her. "Oh well, if your going to limit me than I will settle for two then," Misty said with a false sigh. "All the better to defeat you with, I guess."

"Why don't you cut the chat and start battling then?" Sandy snapped. Alaska was not sure why Sandy disliked the gym leader so much, but had to admire her spirit as Misty raised an eyebrow whilst giving a slight nod.

"As you wish," she said, and moved towards her spot, waving to her assistants. "The battle will be two on two and fought in this pool. I will send first and move first. The winner will be whoever has the last Pokemon standing after the opponent's two have fainted, agreed?"

"Agreed," Alaska said instantly. She was eager to do this battle and was ready to get it over with, and was willing to take whatever rules came her way to prove herself. She pulled a Poke and Great Ball from her bag before passing it over to Sandy.

"Make sure you crush her," Sandy said in an uncharacteristically vicious tone, and Alaska wasn't sure wheter to be shocked or start laughing, but nodded in appreciation and moved forwards. As she stared at the pool, wondering if her Pokemon were meant to balance on the plastic covered ropes, there was a whirring sound. She looked up and saw the assistants were standing by a control panel. Alaska watched as the ropes moved to the side, leaving a large space the size of an average battle field. Than, there was another whirr as six large rubber platforms floated to the surface.

"I was wondering how my Pokemon were meant to fight," Alaska laughed, but Misty simply rolled her eyes. Two platforms moved towards the trainers, and Alaska was surprised to see Misty step onto one. She glanced at the assistants and they nodded, and Alaska leapt cautiously onto the mat. It sunk as she stood on it, water sloshing up into her shoes, but it quickly rebalanced and began floating forwards. Alaska was rather cautious to be leaving the safety of the ground: she did enjoy swimming whenever she got a chance to, but being in the middle of a pool when Darwin was battling… not the most reassuring thing.

The two platforms holding the competitors finally stopped moving, stopping several metres away from the other four platforms arranged in a square spot, not moving as the water remained still. One assistant moved forwards to the middle to referee the battle, while the other stayed by the control box for some reason.

"Are you ready?" The assistant asked, and both girls nodded. "Release your Pokemon!"

"With pleasure," Misty said, and she threw a Great Ball that had been fully coloured in blue onto the platform nearest her. There was the usually burst of light as the energy spiralled out, forming a brown star with a golden and bejewelled centre.

"Ah Staryu, interesting," Alaska said with a nod, though was secretly shocked and annoyed: it would most likely have Psychic moves, making a Primeape a risky Pokemon to use. However, it was Alaska's only hope at the moment, and she reluctantly sent Darwin onto another platform.

"Ape Prime Ape Ape!" He shouted, his shrill cry echoing around, and Alaska noticed a glint in Misty's eyes that possibly confirmed her theories of a Psychic move in the midst. She just hoped Darwin still had his Mankey abilities, and mentally gasped as Alaska realised she probably should have checked Darwin's current capabilities before sending him into battle.

"Begin!" The assistant yelled as Alaska swore loudly in her head.

"Water Pulse to start with!" Misty yelled, and her Staryu's jewel began to glow blue.

"Jump to another platform and use ThunderPunch!" Alaska shouted, forcing herself to focus on the battle at hand. She watched as Staryu fired rings of water from its jewel with a strange cry, but Darwin bent his knees and bounded up into the sky. Alaska was delighted and for a moment thought he had made it, but gasped as the bottom of the rings, which were growing, struck his right foot.

"APE!" Darwin yelled as he began to spiral through the year. It looked as if he was going to crash into the water, but Alaska clapped slightly as Darwin instead used the spin to propel himself forwards, rising up a fist glowing yellow and smashed it down. Staryu had tried to dodge, but the ThunderPunch struck right on and sent her flying into the sky. Misty looked annoyed while Alaska simply clapped, glad things were fine for the moment.

"Use that momentum for a Rapid Spin!" Misty yelled, and it was Alaska's turn to tut: the move was Normal, meaning it was unlikely to do any major damage to a Fighting type like Darwin, though Misty must have a reason for using it.

"Hit back with ThunderPunch, don't let her get any advantage on us," Alaska yelled. She was calming down about the battle, seeing how Darwin had escaped the Water Pulse with minimal damage and gotten an excellent hit in. Staryu began to fly back towards them, spinning so quickly it was simply a brown and gold blur. Darwin was poised on the platform ready to strike, but it wasn't until the last moment that Alaska saw neither of his fists were glowing yellow.

"PRIME!" Darwin shouted, raising one hand open wide and standing on one leg. Staryu thudded into his fist and pushed him backwards, but Darwin began to spin around, using Staryu's spinning and forward momentum to make an ultimate Seismic Toss.

"DARWIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Alaska yelled, but simply got ignored as Darwin threw Staryu onto a rubber platform. The force was so strong that the platform sunk nearly a metre and moved to the side, Staryu nearly skidding off but managing to come to a halt just in time.

"You should really sort that Primeape out," Misty called, wearing a slight smirk. "You may get lucky sometimes but you won't know when something will go wrong." Alaska merely grunted, staring angrily at Darwin as he bounced onto several platforms, moving so rapidly that he barely stood on them for more than a few seconds. "Anyway, back to the battle! Staryu, let's go with… Swift."

"ThunderPunch this time, alright?" Alaska yelled, though Darwin's bouncing made it so she didn't know if he had listened or not. Staryu got to her feet and her jewel glowed, stars beginning to rise out. Alaska knew Swift would actually hit Darwin as it could never miss, but wondered when Darwin was going to stop jumping.

"APE!" Darwin sad, almost in answer, and landed directly in front of Staryu. The stars smacked into his furry body, doing minimal damage due to the type advantage, and Alaska was actually quite impressed as Darwin's movements, but saw that, once again, he didn't seem to be preparing a ThunderPunch. "Ape Prime Prime," Darwin sniggered, and he suddenly chopped down on the platform in front.

"Yu Yu Star Star," Staryu exclaimed, and Alaska, Misty, Sandy and the assistants all gasped as the rubber platform burst cleanly into two. Darwin leapt backwards onto the rubber covered ropes as the two sides sank forwards, and causing an unstable Staryu to fall directly into the water.

"DARWIN!" Alaska shouted in shock as everyone else fell silent, staring at the destroyed platform. "You can't just destroy things in this gym! Listen to me and this battle could have already been over!" Darwin shrugged his muscly arms as he balanced on the rope, and Alaska began to worry once more: he had the strength and he had the skill, but what if she never managed to control him.

"Destruction of gym property, tut tut," Misty growled. "Staryu will just have to work harder to defeat you! Water Pulse!" Alaska was tempted to call Darwin back and be over with him, but gasped as he suddenly bounced forwards off the rope, not even waiting to get an order to ignore.

"PRIMEY!" He yelled, and a yellow blur showed he was finally using ThunderPunch. Everyone watched as his fist slammed into the water above Staryu, managing to strike the Star Shape Pokemon but doing a lot more: there was a flash and a crackle, followed by a shockwave that ripped through the pool. Alaska screamed as the rubber mat tilted, and she wobbled her arms furiously to keep herself afloat. All of the water was moving and shaking now, but Misty, with years of experience, remained still, and Darwin had expertly landed on another mat. Staryu, however, was floating face down on the rippling surface.

"Staryu is unable to battle," the assistant cried. Misty had a scowl on her face as she brought back Staryu and pulled another completely blue Great Ball from her pockets. Alaska was afraid her clothes would end up erupting into flames with the nasty look coming her way and turned angrily to face the smiling Darwin.

"Listen to my commands for now on, alright?" She said sternly, and Darwin gave a slight nod, though a grin was wide on his face so Alaska wasn't sure.

"GO ALASKA!" Sandy yelled from the side, and Alaska turned and smiled at her, noticing that Bellsprout was alongside shaking her skinny limbs to match Sandy's cheering.

"Congratulations on defeating Staryu, but it'll take more than your psychotic monkey and a measly cheer squad to defeat my second Pokemon," Misty scowled, but it quickly softened to a grin as she threw the Great Ball onto the platform opposite Darwin. Alaska wondered what sort of ferocious Water beast it was going to be, but was slightly stunned when the energy only formed at a height below her legs. The Pokemon was yellow with a cream bill, and its webbed hands were clutching its head. Alaska paused, wondering if Misty was joking, before beginning to snort with laughter.

"A _Psyduck_?" She said, clutching her sides and nearly falling down onto the soaking platform. "Are you serious?" Misty went back to her scowl, but Alaska didn't care as she continued to laugh. The Psyduck stared at Darwin with a rather confused look, and the Primeape began to laugh as well. Alaska knew Psyducks had a long history of not being particularly bright and constantly getting headaches, and was stunned that Misty had chosen this for her saving Pokemon.

"Let's see how hard you laugh after we've used Confusion!" Misty snapped. Alaska was laughing so hard she didn't notice, but caught a brief glimpse of Psyduck's eyes glowing pink before Primeape was blasted backwards. The great furry beast crashed into the water with a humungous splash that sent Alaska's platform shaking, and by the time she was stable Alaska looked down to see Darwin was thrashing and flailing his limbs, trying hard to breathe.

"The platform is right there!" Alaska cried, but quickly realised what was wrong: the Confusion would have left a secondary effect, and now Darwin was too confused that he couldn't even make it to his platform, making him a sitting, … well, thrashing target.

"I wasn't expect him to get Confused so suddenly, but what an added bonus," Misty said with a laugh.

"What if he drowns?" Alaska cried, stunned at this move and wondered if Misty regularly did this, yet she simply laughed at the question.

"If he drowns it'll be his own fault," Misty sneered, "but we'll put him out of his misery if you want: Psybeam, go!"

"Psy Duck Duck," Psyduck said in a purely nerdy voice, and rainbow coloured circles appeared out of his eye. They shaped over the platform Darwin had been standing on and quickly struck the flailing Primeape. Alaska was shocked and tried to think of a move to use, but there was nothing Darwin could do to get himself out of the water, and the Psychic attack simply hit him head on. Misty clapped with delight as Darwin was forced under, only a few seconds later to pop back up face down.

"Primeape is unable to battle," the assistant declared, and Alaska reluctantly brought him back. Though two Psychic moves would be difficult to avoid, she had hoped Darwin's powerful ThunderPunch could have been put to more use. But as Misty praised Psyduck, Alaska quickly swapped PokeBalls and grabbed a Great Ball.

"GO GO FRANCES!" Sandy yelled from the stands, matched with a chorus of "Bell Bell Bell!" from Bellsprout, and Alaska felt a bit relieved as Frances formed on the platform in front. The smile faltered though as she looked at the size of Frances and the size of the platform she was on, and wondered if this was a risky move.

"Para Par Paras?" Frances said, looking around at all the sights around her and scuttling nervously around in circles before finally seeing Alaska. Her eyes were wide with shock and Alaska felt bad, but she got down on one knee, ignoring the water seeping through her jeans, and leant towards her platform.

"I know you can do this," she said with a smile. "You have good moves and you are powerful, so it will be easy for you to wipe the floor with this pathetic Psyduck." Frances simply nodded at this, but didn't look entirely reassured as she turned back around.

"A Bug and Grass type, eh?" Misty said, her smile disappearing and a serious look going back on her face. "Good combination for facing off my Psyduck, but a type advantage won't save you now!"

"We'll see," Alaska said with a smile, deciding to stay confident for Frances' sake.

"I guess we shall," Misty retorted. "Aqua Tail!" Psyduck nodded and walked directly into the water, letting go of his head in order to allow him to swim across. Only now did Alaska see it would be impossible for Frances to move platforms, and crossed her fingers that things went well.

"Grab the tail with a Metal Claw and hold on tight!" Alaska yelled. Frances nodded, and Psyduck suddenly leapt out on the water in front, making the Paras jump. He began to descend with his small tail glowing blue and growing slightly.

"Psy Psy," he said, and Alaska gasped as it looked for a moment that Frances was in too big of a shock at the idea of being crushed by a duck to do anything. However, almost in the last second, a glowing silver claw shot up and grasped down onto the tail. Psyduck screeched as he landed, his weight pushing Frances backwards towards the end as she struggled to hold on, but succeeded in stopping the attack.

"Shake her off and use Confusion!" Misty shouted.

"Hit him with a Bullet Seed in the back of the head!" Alaska cried, pleased but not yet ecstatic at how things were going. Frances was so terrified about getting attacked and having the Psyduck on the end of her claw that she quickly fired the glowing green seeds from her mouth.

"DUCK DUCK DUCK!" Psyduck shouted as Frances let go, allowing the seeds to push him forwards. Alaska was pleased the attack had hit him in the head, hopefully giving him a headache, but cursed as Psyduck fell straight off the edge of the platform and splashed into the water: Frances wouldn't be able to hit him underwater, and she even began to look terrified at the fact he had gone. Misty seemed to have noticed this and smiled.

"Use Psybeam on the platform and knock it off!" She shouted. Alaska needed to do something, and quickly began to think of all of Frances' moves and all possible strategies.

"Fire a Stun Spore into the water and see if it hits!" Alaska cried. Frances gave a nervous nod and moved towards the edge, her mushrooms shaking as she prepared to release the yellow flakes. However, before Frances could the entire platform was lifted up into the air.

"PARAAAAA!" Frances squealed as the platform sped up towards the lights.

"HANG ON!" Alaska shouted, thinking for a second that Frances was going to crash into the lights. However, the platform paused for barely a second before beginning to topple back down. It began to tip and Alaska gasped as Frances slid to the side, clinging desperately onto the side, yellow Stun Spore flakes rising up as she released them in fright. Alaska wanted to look away, but couldn't tear her eyes away and watched in shock as the platform struck the water, the force tearing Frances away from the platform. Alaska's heart sank as her Paras disappeared into the pool, into a territory where she had no advantage. There was a flicker in the corner of her eyes, and Alaska turned to see the television screens had turned on, revealing a squirming Frances as she sank and a calm looking Psyduck.

"The gym rules state that once both sides have a Pokemon beneath the surface the cameras can come on to see what is happening," the assistant refereeing explained to Alaska's confused look, and Alaska simply nodded.

"So, still think Psyduck is a silly Pokemon?" Misty called almost triumphantly, her smile wide enough you could land a plane on it. Alaska didn't want to let her get to her and simply shrugged, shrinking the grin. "Well, we'll see how well your little Paras goes under water! Hit her with a Water Pulse!"

"Spin and unleash a Stun Spore, than try and swim towards him," Alaska yelled. She began looking between the screens and the rippling water, trying to get a feel for how things were going. Psyduck had released the Water Pulse, the rings moving swiftly through the water and towards Frances as she struggled to move. Alaska gasped as the biggest of them washed over her and Frances silently wailed under the thick blanket of water, but she felt better once she saw yellow particles swirling through the water, Frances using the rings to give her a spin. What's more, Psyduck didn't seem to have noticed them and swam straight into a burst.

"YES!" Alaska cried, beginning to get excited once again. Misty cursed as Psyduck stopped swimming, unable to due to the paralysis sweeping through his body.

"You may have got him stiff, but that doesn't mean you've won yet!" She yelled. "Use your mind and use Confusion!"

"Swim over there and grab onto his neck with Metal Claw!" Alaska yelled, a plan loosely forming. Frances had stopped spinning and was doing her best to try and swim, but luckily had six legs and two huge claws to use in aiding her way forwards that no human had, and Alaska was stunned at her speed as she moved forwards. Psyduck looked towards her with a glowing pink glare and a ripple through the water showed the Psychic energy moving forwards, but Frances' Bug typing allowed the attack to simply wash over her and she continued to kick forwards looking only slightly tired.

"YOU CAN DO IT FRANCES!" Sandy screamed as Frances reached the paralyzed Psyduck, who was unable to swim away. Her claws both glowed silver and grabbed onto Psyduck, and Alaska cheered as the Duck Pokemon squirmed and flailed as much as his paralyzed body allowed. It simply proved Frances did have a lot of strength in her once she was able to access it, and Alaska couldn't be happier.

"Beat the thing off with a Psybeam!" Misty screeched, her voice echoing around the glassed building and showing she was close to loosing it, which couldn't have made Alaska any happier.

"Bullet Seed from point blank range!" Alaska yelled. Frances moved was able to move faster and quickly scaled up onto Psyduck's bill. It seemed she was taking the point blank range to heart, or was simply enjoying being the superior one for once, but Frances turned directly to Psyduck's head and fired the seeds. Psyduck's shocked expression was clearly visible on the screen and Alaska clapped and cheered in delight as he was barraged by the glowing green seeds. However, she didn't notice the fact his eyes were glowing a rainbow colour and his face was beginning to look angry…

"DUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" Psyduck yelled, the noise breaking through the water. There was some sort of Psychic shockwave that stopped Alaska's laughter and Sandy's cheering, and suddenly the water around them exploded. A tower of clear water rose up into the air, sending the two halves of the destroyed platform hurtling across the pool and crashing through the ropes. Alaska screamed as the entire pool seemed to be dragged up by the explosion, and she clung tightly onto the sides of the platform as it rocked violently.

"What the hell is this?" She cried, feeling the chain that was used to move it being pushed to its limits. A soft but loud scream sounded from above, and Alaska looked up as Frances came hurtling towards her. "Shit," she cried and leapt up, quickly grasping hold of the Paras as she fell down from the torrent. However, it was sort of like catching a bowling ball, the force pushing Alaska backwards. The platform was already sinking slightly, and she simply slipped through the water and sprawled backwards.

"BUGGER!" Alaska yelled, and shut her eyes to prepare herself for falling in. A shout came from the sidelines, and as Alaska's hairs and legs submerged themselves themselves, something much tougher appeared under her back to hold her upright. Alaska looked around in shock and was stunned to see that Bellsprout's skinny arms had almost quadrupled in length and length in order to reach the ropes to the right of Alaska and hold her upright.

"Cheers!" Alaska called breathlessly, giving the thumbs up to them, which Sandy replied with a smile and a nod. Swinging her feet out of the water, Alaska got them onto the platform and managed to pull it towards her with some slight motions, and Bellsprout helped lever her onto to it. Alaska looked down at Frances and was relieved to see she was conscious, though was thoroughly shaken by the experience and was clinging to her trainer.

"You did brilliantly," Alaska whispered with a proud smile, and Frances simply smiled timidly as her body continued to shake. Alaska looked up at this point, wondering how things had ended for Misty. The first thing she saw was that Misty was dripping wet, the explosion of water having been a lot closer to her than it had to Alaska. Than something yellow caught her eyes, and Alaska leapt up with delight as she saw Psyduck lying on a platform with his limbs outstretched.

"Psyduck is unable to battle, meaning that the challenger Alaska has won," the refereeing assistant said, also wet from the torrent. Alaska cheered with delight, and she heard Sandy let out a loud scream nearby.

"WE DID IT FRANCES!" Alaska cried, and was pleased to see the Paras manage a smile. Alaska began jumping, but stopped quickly once she found the platform didn't seem to want to be jumped on. Misty sighed as she brought Psyduck back, but Alaska was stunned to see her smiling slightly back at her.

"You battled well," she called. "It seems your Bullet Seed pushed Psyduck's constant headache to its limits, a wise strategy." It had all been a huge fluck and an accident, but Alaska was pleased to not have the gym leader angry with her. The platforms began to move back with a press of a button, though Alaska noticed the ruined pieces simply remained half-floating, half sunk. Sandy ran around to meet them, and her happiness for Alaska was infectious and both girls begin leaping around in delight. Alaska was extremely pleased to have defeated Misty: it had been a tough battle and she had been nervous there for a moment, but was pleased to have gotten it over with and that Frances had shone like a star. Darwin, however, was disappointing, but Alaska decided to focus on the positives and would deal with his growing disobedience later.

"THAT WAS SOOOO AWESOME!" Sandy yelled once the platform had arrived, and Alaska leapt off and was bombarded with a tight hug that made Frances squeak. "I can't believe how well you fought, except for Darwin, but who cares, YOU WON!"

"I am glad you are excited, but I don't think Frances can breath," Alaska said with a smile, and Sandy gasped and let go in shock. Alaska laughed and began walking back around towards the doors as her platform sank back to the pool floor, giving Bellsprout and a hug and a quick thanks as well.

"Sprout Bell," Bellsprout said with a smile, and Alaska continued to beam in delight as the group made it back around. Misty was moving slowly over, her assistants rushing around with the Cascade Badge and the winning TM, and Alaska couldn't help but feel happy as she approached the red headed leader, certain it was a deserved win.

That is, until the doors opened.

"Alaska, there you are!" A voice boomed, and Alaska froze as Bill and Mitchell ran into the room, holding the large metal box that contained the metallic weapon Alaska had used earlier. "I've been looking all over for you once I changed back – oh, hello Misty – and than I found Mitchell here standing around those reality show people your always complaining about. He said you were coming here, so I rushed over straight away! You never came back for your gun!" Alaska was taken aback by their appearance, and anger rose up as she faced Bill, still relatively annoyed about being changed into a Pokemon.

"Well, I'm here now," Alaska said bitterly once they had reached her. Bill grabbed the box from Mitchell, who stuck his nose up at Alaska and looked away smugly, showing he was still annoyed with her. "I was going to come back for this after the battle anyway, but I wanted to do something fun after being harassed by my mortal enemies whilst stuck in my Pidgeotto's body."

"Yes yes, I am sorry you got hit," Bill said with an irritable sigh. "The thing is that we all got switched back! On that note, you didn't happen to notice where that blue lightning came from, did you?"

"Just because we got switch – wait, what?" Alaska said, pausing in her rant. "_You _didn't switch us back?"

"I am sorry to say I didn't: the power wouldn't come back on," Bill explained, looking rather nervous now. "I was hoping you saw who or what unleashed that lightning… it would have to be something with strong Psychic energy to change brains back." Alaska simply nodded, not really listening and glancing nervously back at Sandy. All happiness slipped away from her win as they took in what Bill was saying: something out there had switched their brains back, but who or what? Alaska didn't want to have to worry about anything else asides from her quest, but all the problems and constant questions seemed to be piling up. Everyone gasped as she angrily kicked the stands before flopping down onto them, head in her hands and silently cursing Gideon, Amanda and everyone else who was causing her journey to be ruined.

**I hope you all enjoyed that one and that the twist was unexpected (nothing worse than a cliffhanger you see coming!) Blog and Interlude double feature up next**


	36. Blog 6: So That City Went Well

**Blog Six: So That City Went Well**

Hello once again my fabulous winners. You would think I'd be in a happy mood at the moment – Bill the Science Guy just gave me a lovely new weapon, Darwin evolved into a Primeape and Frances helped secure me my second gym battle. I'll give a single 'Woo-hoo', as the kids say, in celebration, but unfortunately, the low points of Cerulean City were a _bit_ of an overshadow.

Let's start off with seeing some old friends of mine. I am not sure if I mentioned this in a previous blog, but there was this weird disembodied voice around both Pewter and Cerulean Gyms. I had a feeling it was just yet another thing stalking me (but who could blame them – my jeans shape my legs nicely, fellas ;)) but I think it is just some security thing for the gyms, not that I got a chance to ask – I'll save for the next leader ("Wazzup bro! Before I try and defeat you and get a badge and free TM of ya, mind telling me what's up with the pervy voice at your front door?")

Anyway, the voice was a bit pryful into my life, but than told us where to find Misty on her date (so I began looking around all tree tops as we walked to see if she was K-I-S-S-I-N-Ging.) Sandy and I set off, with my comrade seeming particularly annoyed about Misty having a sexy break. After getting onto the Nugget Bridge, which sounds to me like there should be a chain of fast food restaurants on it, we saw my other good pals the reality stars…. Yeaaaaaaah…. *sarcasm*. They all looked well enough for a piece of soulless, heartless monsters, and though I wished to ignore them, Chloe instead wanted to battle me with, of all things, a Clefairy. I felt like throwing her into the lake beneath us, but than Frances kicked some ass and we were off on our way.

So we continued towards Cerulean Cape where Misty was meant to be, though we went through a forest that was dark and creepy and there's should probably have been an axe murderer or two lurking around in there, all because I saw a shadow. Remember that voice that appeared behind me at the Beedrill Nest? Well, I'm pretty sure whoever spoke was leading me towards the Cape, and I thought "What the hell, let's follow that guy." Probably not the brightest move, but I was hoping to find out who this guy was, and I did end up at the Cerulean Cape and near Misty, so that's a plus. I didn't catch a single lit view of this guy go, so there's another mystery man I haven't quite solved yet (Not in a rom-com way – If I was a movie, I'd hope it was an action movie where Sandy is really a hot guy who aides me in my dramatic quest and we eventually fall in love and have a dramatic kiss as Gideon blows himself and the reality stars up…. ah, dreams…)

So Misty got pretty pissed that we interrupted her date with her hot date (I wouldn't mind having an ol' splash in the pool with that fellow nudgenudgewinkwinksnigger) but agreed to battle me in an hour. With all that time to kill, you just know something is going to come and ruin my day, and that something turned out to be high pitched Mitchell Melton and Bill, the co-creator of the PC System and now resident sea watcher, blog reader and weapon maker.

I went back to his laboratory which was about as flash as 20 year old car with a layer of dirt on the widescreen that some kids have written "CLEAN ME" in (If I ever settle down, I expect one of you readers to come and shoot me – YOU OWE ME THAT MUCH!). Bill was old and grey like my a 20 year old car after the layer of dirt had been scraped off, but revealed that A) no one is doing much to stop Gideon, B) I'm being watched and having my blog read (Hey Bill – clean your house! It's like a 20 year old car in that place.) C) the whole fossil thing is bad news after all, and D) The 'Elites of Kanto' want to make sure I am protected. So Bill decided to give me a gun (clearly hasn't been reading my blog too thoroughly) that is meant to be a defensive weapon, but I am sure I can find a way to pimp this ride. As I was casually testing it, the expected happened: Mitchell switched our brains :D

I don't know how many of you have ever had your brains switched with a Pokemon, and if you have, contact me via making a support group (BrainWatchers anyone?), but it isn't an all too pleasant experience. It feels exactly like having your brain pulled out whilst having a series of anvils thrown violently onto your body by a violent and possibly drunk body builder. And after you've been through this pleasant pain, you find you're suddenly a Pokemon.

I love Paige with all my heart and she is my best and oldest friend, but never did I want to get shoved into her body. Having feathers and large flappy things to your sides isn't the most pleasant experience, and I really don't enjoy being back at my toddler aged height. What's more, the bloody power grid blew and Mitchell ran off having a man period because I didn't accept his fake apology – what a cruel person I am! So _I_ had to go and apologize to HIM! He hasn't swapped places with that Rattata of his, but NOOOOO, I'm at blame!

I don't really want to relive my experiences as a Pokemon, nor what happened next, and really my battery is starting to die so let's move this loco along, shall we?

Moving as a Pidgeotto isn't pleasant. Mitchell pointed the stars out to us. Chloe was a bitch, so I bit her on the nose and than whacked a camera into Amanda's face. Chloe cried, Damian battled me, Amanda may be a malicious bitch, who knows, Darwin nearly killed Damian's Charmander and evolved after disobeying me, Amanda threatened me, I went to go all Twister on her ass and got turned back into the loveable adorable one and only Me. Chloe had a cried, I told her to shove it and punched her in the nose, she and Amanda fell in the lake. Such fun!

We went to Misty's and got mocked by the voice. She was pissed off, as I expected. I then took a ride on the world's most boring amusement park to battle her: PrimeDarwin was a little shit who ignored me but defeated Staryu, only to get drowned by Psyduck. Frances came in and was a bit scared at first but managed to kick some ducky butt as I expected, causing PsyTard to have a massive brain fart and blow the pool up, I was saved from drowning by Sandy's Bellsprout (BTW, Sandy caught a Bellsprout), caught Frances, Psyduck fainted, I won – WOOHOO! Than Bill and Mitchell arrived and it turns out something other than Bill turned me back to me, so that means yet ANOTHER MYSTERY!

PHEW! That was tiresome. Typing this fast must be as tiresome as masturbating for men. Oh no, I said something inappropriate, sue me! (I'd prefer if you didn't, my lawyer's on holiday alone, and he'll have a sore wrist as well! PAZOW!) My laptop seems close to dying and Sandy bloody well lost my cord, so let's just review the main points, shall we class?

I've got a mystery guy, a mystery blue lightning summoner and possibly a robotic voice following me, as well as a missing Gideon and the whole Kanto Elite people stalking. I don't even want to think about these things at the moment. If they surface again, I will deal with them, but I am not going to set out to fix things.

The Reality Show: same as above, but they can go rot in a hole full of sarcastic, hypercritical, flesh eating zombies for all I care. I will care about them once I defeat them, but I don't need to waste a second of my life on theirs.

Mitchell refuses to talk to me, but I have a feeling he is just trying to make me feel bad, but that prat can go suck a tree for all I care

I am very concerned about Darwin. If anyone has tips on a misbehaving Pokemon please let me know, as I have no idea how to get me to listen to me or to find out why he is beginning to act this way, but it is a bit of a fright

Asides from that, I am VEEEEEERY happy to have crossed off the second step in my path to league domination, very happy indeed :D Sandy and I are staying the night in Cerulean before heading down to either Saffron or Vermillion, whichever one tickles my fancy (Not in THAT way ya perve!) And hopefully, things will go without a hitch… though my hopes are about as high as Chloe's IQ…

So long and thanks for all the wishes!,

Alaska


	37. Interlude 5: Six Degrees

**Interlude Five: Six Degrees of Villainous Separation**

Once again, Buzz Bolton found himself staring out at the sunset. The sky was alight with orange and yellows today, sucking the blue out of the area around them as the stars slowly began to twinkle into place like many little lights being switched on. It was one of those sunsets you couldn't help but turn towards and find yourself lightening up inside as you stared at the sun as it began to sink behind the skyscrapers, trees and mountains. It helped to make people's days, and cheer them up from the day they had.

However, nothing was going to cheer up Buzz.

He stared out at Saffron City with his mind racing. In a few weeks, he hoped to be in charge of this entire region. He could imagine people screaming and running through the streets as the floors of Silph Co. opened up, and the army he had been developing for five years would rise out onto the streets. Buzz could imagine buildings of his rivals crumbing and falling down inside themselves, balls of fire rising up from their basements. He could imagine men running through the street and grabbing people, killing whoever he wanted and could until every single region was bowing down before him and opening their gates to welcome him in. Buzz had been imagining things like this for years, and sometimes would be sitting at his desk and could see the sun turning into a giant fire that wiped out all his enemies at a press of a button.

But his plans were in turmoil. Buzz clutched in his shaking hands a brief letter that had been sent to him by an Archaeologist from the Oreburgh Museum in Sinnoh, who Buzz had bribed and flown out to Mt Moon to do some evaluation. He kept glancing back at the results given to him, wondering wheter to believe them or not, all the while finally his dreams crashing down around him.

The phone suddenly begin to ring, and Buzz let out an angry sigh as he turned towards it and pressed a button on his remote control to answer it. He had a feeling who it was going to be, and recognized the voice that let out an angry shriek as soon as it picked up.

"THAT STUPID LITTLE BITCH!" Amanda's voice screeched, echoing in the enclosed room. "I WANT THAT SELF IMPORTANT TART DEAD BUZZ, DO YOU HEAR ME, DEAD!" Buzz was a bit taken aback by this, having expected Amanda to be calling about something else.

"I don't care about Alaska fucking Acevedo at the moment darling," Buzz said, trying to keep his voice calm, "but if she is being a bother and you still haven't managed to kill her yet than I know a way to get rid of her within the next few days, alright?" Amanda's heavy breathing was all that came back, but Buzz knew she would be nodding at the other end.

"Fine, but I want a bit of her left over for me at least to personally destroy," the producer snarled. "She ruined my clothes and a camera, my tablet is covered in mud and Chloe needs to get her nose fixed!" Buzz was once again taken aback and sighed angrily, but he needed to focus on other matters.

"Did you get a copy of the report from Dr. West?" Buzz asked, only to get a loud sigh in reply.

"No, didn't you hear me? My tablet fell in the mud!" Amanda snapped back. "God, when I get my hands on that bitch I'm –,"

"ENOUGH!" Buzz yelled, cutting Amanda off mid sentence. "Alaska will be dead within days, alright? We've got bigger fish to deal with at the moment! Dr West said that he searched the area around the explosion and found no evidence of fossils being there, but he found a piece of discoloured rock in a hole that he has tested and said it contains DNA of a Kabuto in it." Amanda's gasp was clear and audible, and Buzz sighed and he collapsed down into a chair, groaning as he angrily kicked the wall, much like a toddler that wasn't getting their way.

"So the little bitches blog was right?" Amanda whispered. "Gideon is back then, isn't he?" Buzz stopped kicking but continued to groan, almost on the verge of tears, though he would never admit it. He turned back towards the phone, staring down at the report in front of him.

"I am sorry to say he is," Buzz said, his voice a lot more whiny than it usually was. "I have no idea how that dick survived for all these years, but he is back and seems to be starting up Operation Lavender." Silence fell between the two, and Buzz looked out through his windows, the low sun casting shadows across his floor as it moved behind several buildings.

"But… but… but Neil… we left him there," Amanda whispered, in so much shock that she forgot how much Buzz hated having his real name used. "We left him there to die… surely he is going to start putting the pieces together, he'll know we are still around!" Buzz stared angrily at the phone, severely annoyed at the use of his real name, but he knew that Amanda had a point.

"We'll have to keep quiet then, won't we?" He replied, trying to gain control again, his mind thinking of what to do. "I want you to focus entirely on getting these stars up to scratch and defeating gyms. Do more training and more gruelling challenges – we are going to have to bring our challenges forwards and I want at least one of them to have all eight gym badges before Gideon can do anything, alright? And don't even spare a thought for the little bitch – she'll be a bad memory in a few days."

"Fine then," Amanda said, a little bit huffily. "And what are you going to do during this time?" Buzz didn't appreciate the tone in her voice and was tempted to give her a warning about it, but had too much on his plate to properly care about it. He instead stood up, the report still clutched in his hands and drawing his attention back. Whatever Gideon was planning, there was a chance it would ruin theirs.

"I am going to keep an eye on our old colleague and see what he is up to," Buzz said firmly. "I need to use the phone to make arrangements – goodbye," and he hung up before Amanda even knew it. Buzz turned back towards his window, only a small orange glow in the distance providing natural light, and he knew that soon light bulbs would turn on and light his path. But Buzz didn't intend to stay around for much longer: with an angry growl, he scrunched up the report and threw it into the bin before snatching up the phone. Buzz wasn't going to let anything get in his way of stopping his dreams, and began dialling a number for the people that could help him.

If things went his way, Alaska and Gideon would both be dead within a week.

* * *

It was quite rare for Gideon to feel a feeling of emptiness, but as he stared around his lab, he couldn't help but feel a bit sad.

Over the past few days he had packed everything away into boxes. The murder of the many police officers wouldn't go unnoticed for long, but Gideon had moved effortlessly to secure the area using a special electrical field that would stop anyone from leaving or entering. However, it wasn't going to hold for long, and Gideon had to move fast to make sure he continued to avoid capture.

All of his machines and paperwork had been filed carefully away in a number of boxes that he had stolen from the surrounding houses, and Gideon had teleported them away to a secure facility where no one would be able to find him. It was stressful and irritating, but Gideon had to do it if he wanted to leave.

The last of the boxes had left, and Gideon was left alone in the middle of the empty room. Shelves and bench tops lay bare, cupboards empty, marks remaining in the middle of the floor from his various machines being activated. Filth and dust covered almost every surface, leaving it far from the pristine bomb shelter it had once been. All of the devices such as the fridge and television had been destroyed, and only a few of their parts remained scattered around the room.

Gideon continued to look around, smiling in a slightly psychotic way. He had lived here for many years, and hadn't left it until a few months ago, all his food being collected by his Pokemon. It felt strange to be saying good bye to it, and Gideon let out a little sigh as he once again thought of the inconvenience of it all. However, Gideon did have most of the machines and all the fossils that were necessary for his plan. All he had left to do was to collect a single book, a few ingredients, the blueprints for a Fossil Resurrection Machine and the necessary parts for that. If all went well, his plan will be complete in only a few weeks time.

"Excellent," Gideon hissed to himself, glad to have a happy thought, and decided to leave the bomb shelter behind. He briskly climbed up the ladder and pushed open the trapdoor, stepping out into the night.

It was a pleasant evening, with an inky black sky with twinkling stars. Gideon had missed all of nature's beauties whilst underground and hoped to see more to make up for it. He looked around at the disembodied limbs and charred bits of flesh and clothes that had survived Porygon-Z's Tri Attack and multiple Hyper Beams, and then around at the houses. Many people were trapped inside, worried for themselves and their friends, not knowing what the scientist who had put up the barrier was going to do to them. Gideon had always savoured fear, and he couldn't help laughing to himself as he pulled a button out of his pocket. Over the years, he had built a security system into the bomb shelter, designed to eliminate all traces of him ever being there if need be. Gideon was glad he had never had to use it until now, and felt rather giddy with excitement as he set up his teleportation part of his watch.

"Goodbye Chrono Island!" He yelled, beginning to cackle with laughter. "I hope this is good enough to remember me by!" And he pressed down on the button as soon as the teleportation was ready. Gideon was instantly sucked away, along with the button, but not before its process had been done. A loud beeping began to sound through the shelter hatch, and the people in the surrounding houses looked out their windows at Gideon's cry, wondering what he had done.

Seconds later, the nuclear bomb exploded.

**Yes, it is now officially confirmed: Buzz and Amanda are ex Rocket grunts and were there when Red, Leaf and Blue stormed the Rocket facility. I hope some things make more sense now, though I also hope there are more questions you want answered ;) **


	38. Chapter 26: Breeding Sexy

**Chapter Twenty Six: Breeding… Sexy**

"Oh Alaska… will you slow down!"

"I wouldn't be walking fast if you hadn't made us late!"

"It's not my fault they were playing _Nights of the Dead _– it's only my favourite vampire soap opera ever!"

Alaska growled and rolled her eyes, and continued to walk determinedly forwards. It was a pleasant day: cloudless sky with the sun shining above them, though it was cool due to a gentle breeze blowing through Route 5. Most people would find it relaxing, but Alaska was quick to get a move on. She wanted to leave Cerulean City now that she had her badge, and wanted to focus entirely on getting her next one: Saffron City and Vermilion City were both near and had gym badges to collect, and Alaska was focused entirely on getting them. She didn't care about the reality show, she didn't care about mysterious blue lightning, or mysterious voices that seemed to know about her. Alaska only cared about continuing with her journey, and the only problem she was going to deal with was Frances' shyness in battle and Darwin's misbehaviour.

"Alaska, come on, slow down!" Sandy groaned from behind, but Alaska continued to stroll determinedly along. They had been late in leaving the Pokemon Center as Sandy had wanted to watch a TV show, and they then had to push their way through a large group of people watching the news in the atrium. Alaska was annoyed at being late and ignored Sandy, moving quickly despite the large metal box holding Bill's weapon bouncing around in her bag.

One reason Alaska had travelled by herself was that she liked doing things her own way. She had never enjoyed following rules, wheter they had been set by her parents, her boss at the PokeMart, her teachers, her older siblings or her next door neighbour, who had once told her that she couldn't have Paige knock his door down just because a tennis ball they were playing with had flown through his upstairs window. Alaska had looked forwards to have a chance to do things by her own rules, like waking up and sleeping when she wanted, travelling down paths she wanted to, visiting places that weren't just on a list of sights from talk show host Vivian Winters. Sandy was great company and it was nice to have someone to talk to that replied in English, but Alaska was finding travelling with another person meant accommodating what they wanted to do, and she was finding her freedom being stifled.

"I am not slowing down until we get to the gatehouse at Saffron, so you should either start running or just wait a few minutes to catch up," Alaska called out, laughing slightly to herself even though she felt a bit bad for leaving Sandy behind. But all thoughts left her head when she looked down and jumped backwards in surprise: right in front of her, in the middle of the road, was a small blue Pokemon that was tiny enough to pick up, with a small horn on its head, big ears and small spikes on its back.

"Well aren't you adorable," Alaska said, quickly recovering from the shock of the Pokemon being here. She thought back to the Pokemon she knew, and remembered seeing a cartoon version of it in a scarring puberty video. "You are a Nidoran, aren't you? The female version, if I'm correct – the male one is pink, which is kind of odd for a masculine Pokemon, but whatever, I've seen weirder… anyway, how did you end up here?" Alaska bent down and smiled at the Nidoran, but was stunned when the Pokemon reared her horn.

"RAN RAN!" She snapped, advancing forwards and pulling a mean face. Alaska was surprised by the Nidoran's aggressiveness, but wasn't frightened as the Pokemon was rather small and her horn didn't look all that threatening. Alaska instead glanced around, wondering where it had come from: she and Sandy had been walking on the right side of a raised section of land that had been reinforced with stones and cement to prevent landslides. She could see the metal railings at the top at a level appropriate to stop people falling over the edge, but not good enough to stop Pokemon tipping over.

"Finally!" Sandy suddenly puffed right next to Alaska, causing her to turn around and see her co-traveller clutching her sides and wheezing as she tried to catch her breath. "Never make my walk so fast again!" Sandy puffed. "Why did you stop any – oh, hello!" Sandy saw the Nidoran on the ground and bent down to smile at it. "What brought you here?"

"NIDO RAN RAN RAN!" Nidoran hissed.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Sandy screamed, leaping up behind Alaska.

"Really?" Alaska sighed. "Your fine with confronting Misty and get all up in her face, yet a little Nidoran is too much to handle?"

"It hissed at me! Misty didn't hiss," Sandy said defensively, staring down at the Nidoran that was now charging forwards with her head down. Alaska glanced down as Nidoran began attacking her shoe with sharp jabs from her horn, and the trainer sighed as she bent down and picked Nidoran up.

"Let's find a way to take this back up there," Alaska said, holding tightly as the Nidoran fidgeted and squirmed. Sandy rolled her eyes at the prospect of still walking, but Alaska quickly carried on and there was soon a distance of two metres between the friends as they tried to find a way up.

"Why didn't we go up that hill thing in the first place?" Sandy asked.

"Because I have no idea if there is a way up or down from this end, but I guess we'll find out," Alaska said with a smile as she noticed a set of stairs in the distance. She ran the last few metres towards them, still holding tightly as Nidoran tried to free herself from Alaska's arms. But as Alaska began climbing the steps, she saw that it wasn't quite what she was expecting: instead of leaving up to the raised area, the stairs lead to a house directly beneath a sheer cliff where the land above suddenly stopped.

"Odd place for a house," Alaska mumbled, and turned to read a sign that was directly next to her: ROUTE 5 BREEDING CENTER. "Hmm… odd place for any sort of building," Alaska added. She was tempted to turn back, but as Sandy let out a loud groan at the prospect of climbing stairs, Alaska decided it might do them so good to pop in for a few moments.

The door was unlocked, and as Alaska turned the handle she got a waft of heat and a variety of smells. She was struggling to hold onto Nidoran with just one hand and was doubled over as she entered, by a man behind a counter leapt up and rushed towards her.

"So that's where you went!" He said, scooping Nidoran out of Alaska's arms and expertly grasping onto her. "Thank you for bringing Nadia back, though how did you know she belonged here?"

"I didn't," Alaska said as she stood up straight and looked around. The Breeding Center seemed rather basic, with bare black walls surrounding white plastic window frames, though the windows appeared to be black plastic. There was a television attached to the corner of a wall and a table with several chairs around it. The floor was green linoleum, though it appeared to be sun faded and had several holes in it. Alaska wasn't surprised to find things were rather quiet here, though was shocked when a stout elderly woman wandered out from a room behind the counter, carrying two Igglybuff in her arms as she waddled towards an area marked by a white fence.

"What… did I… say… Alas… ka," Sandy wheezed from the front door as she finally made it up, but Alaska only gave her a glance before walking further into the building, the old man taking Nadia the Nidoran with him.

"What is this place?" Alaska asked. "I thought breeding centers were all really fancy and extravagant and rather over the top… not that this isn't nice, it's just not very…," Alaska trailed off as she struggled to find words, but the old man smiled as he put the Nidoran down in the fenced area.

"My wife and I started this business twenty years ago, back when businesses like this were family owned companies with a loyal local community and friendly reputation," the man explained as Sandy collapsed into a chair, too tired to care about why they had ended up here. "However, a few years ago, as you seem to know, a little business called _Breederz_ opened up in Unova. They focused on making Pokemon look beautiful as well as training and exercising them, and they gained a loyal following of mostly woman and gays that built them up. Than they opened more branches and got a reality show, and now there are at least 3 centers in each region and the company makes millions each year: we can't compete with that."

"That does suck," Alaska said, feeling it might have been a bit too blunt but not knowing what else to say. "I'm Alaska, by the way, and this is Sandy. I'm just doing a bit of gym badge travelling and came across Nidoran there and I thought she lived up there."

"I'm Andy and this is Judy," the old man said as he shook Alaska's hand. "So, I'm guessing you found us by accident? That's how they all seem to these days! Just so you know, we are still fully operational, not that it really looks like it, but if you want to leave your Pokemon you can."

"Oh, no thanks… I mean," Alaska stumbled, "I only have three Pokemon on me and I really should be training them: they can be a bit tricky at times." Andy nodded, though he did look a bit hurt. Alaska felt bad, but she really just wanted to continue on her journey and hadn't intended on coming here anyway.

"Who do those Pokemon belong to?" Sandy asked as she fanned herself with her hand.  
"These two Igglybuff belong to a little girl away on summer camp, we get a lot of Pokemon for reasons like that," Judy explained as she put the two pink Pokemon down. "Nadia here… well, we don't know what happened to her trainer," the old woman added sadly before hurrying over to begin getting food for the Pokemon.

"She was dropped off last year but we haven't heard anything from the trainer since then," Andy explained with a shake of his head. Alaska still wanted to leave, but Sandy seemed absorbed in the conversation and she reluctantly sat down next to her. "I tried contacting them and everything but didn't get any response. We are meant to only have a six month policy before we release them into the wild, but Judy and I don't have the heart to let them out after that long." Alaska and Sandy glanced over at Nadia, and saw the Nidoran seemed to be threatening the Igglybuff.

"She seems so… lovely," Alaska mumbled, and Andy laughed as his wife brought over glasses of water and a plate of biscuits for them.

"Nadia is just restless," Judy explained with a laugh like Andy's. "I think she wants to get out and battle: a tough little cookie she is, always trying to escape and causing a bit of mayhem." Alaska and Sandy nodded along as they both bit down on a biscuit, but both stopped chewing after a few seconds.

"These are some tough little cookies," Alaska mumbled to Sandy, who stifled a laugh as they quickly spat the cookies into napkins while the elderly couple stared at the Pokemon.

"I do want Nadia's trainer to come back and take her on the journey she deserves, but I can't see that happening any time soon," Judy said sadly. Sandy suddenly gasped dramatically and turned to Alaska, knocking their glasses of water over in the process.

"Ooops, sorry, but Alaska – remember how Misty mocked you for not having enough Pokemon?"

"Vividly."

"Well, why don't you take Nadia?" Alaska was surprised by this, but was more surprised by the water dripping down over the edge of the table. Judy rushed away to get more napkins as Andy glanced towards Nadia, who was beginning to attack the fence, and smiled.

"I think that would be a splendid idea!" He said with a wide smile. "Though, of course, only if you are alright with it Alaska," he added, smiling at her. Alaska glanced over at Nadia, who was still attacking the fence, and pondered: she did feel as if she needed a new Pokemon, and though she would rather catch it herself, Nadia seemed to have a feisty attitude for battling that could come in handy if brought under control.

"What if the trainer returns and wants her back?" Alaska asked. "Wouldn't Nadia be in her PokeBall anyway? I can't access another trainer's PokeBall without their permission."

"Nadia's PokeBall stopped working a few months ago," Judy said as she rushed back with napkins, and she and Sandy began scooping up the water. "I contacted a Pokemon Center and the nurse said that usually means the trainer has deactivated their PC Box. We thought she might come back for Nadia though, but no luck."

"You could have mentioned that before," Alaska said with a smile and moved quickly towards the Nidoran. Nadia stopped and began making snapping noises up at her, but Alaska picked her up and gave her a hug that made her squirm. "I'll be happy to take her with me."

"Ran Ran Nidoran Niiiii!" Nadia said with a squirm, but Alaska simply smiled and pulled a Great Ball out.

"I am going to take you with on my gym battles because you seem like a good fighter, is that alright?" Alaska said, but Nadia's eyes had lit up the mention of battling and she became eagerly still. "I'll take that as a yes then," Alaska laughed, and Nadia nodded and headbutted the Great Ball. The weight disappeared from Alaska's arms as the Nidoran turned to energy and was sucked inside. Everyone watched excitedly, even the Igglybuff, as the Great Ball shook in Alaska's hands. After a few moments, it flashed and clicked.

"YES – I now have four Pokemon!" Alaska cheered, and the others all clapped in celebration. "Watch out Sandy, it looks like we're beating you in the Poke numbers department!"

"Oh Sandy, if you want a Pokemon, we could help with that," Andy said, making Alaska scowl a bit. The old man rushed back behind the counter as Judy continued to mop up the water, and he came back a few moments later with a small yellow egg with brown markings on it. "This was left on our doorstep the other week and we've been trying to get rid of it," Andy explained, "as we don't have the proper facilities to look after an egg. You can have it if you want." Sandy gasped and clapped excitedly, grabbing the egg and pulling Andy into a hug.

"Thank you so much, I have always wanted an egg ever since my old neighbour Tia got one," Sandy said, jittering with excitement as Andy and Judy laughed. Sandy then turned and rushed towards Alaska, who sighed and allowed herself to be pulled into a hug. "Who would have thought it: you get a Primeape and a Nidoran, I get a Bellsprout and now an egg, all in a few days!" Alaska nodded with a large smile, not even faking it as she thought of how her next gym badges were just on the horizon, and she had a new team that was ready to take part in battles.

"I can't believe such happiness could happen on a day like today!" Judy said, almost tearful as she pulled the girls into a hug.

"What's happened today?" Alaska asked. "I hope we haven't intruded on any family moments or anything!" Judy shook her head, looking rather confused, and they saw tat Andy looked the same way as he grabbed a remote from the counter and pointed it at the television.

"Haven't you girls seen the news?" He said, almost in a whisper. Alaska and Sandy shook their heads, thinking back to the crowd that had been in the Pokemon Center that morning, and turned towards the TV.

In a single second, Alaska felt as if the world had crashed down around her.

On the tiny screen above them, they could see the destruction: text scrolling across the bottom said that it was Chrono Island, one of the Sevii Islands, and that a nuclear device had gone off around midnight. A helicopter flying overhead showed barren wastelands of ash: no nature left, charred frames of buildings all that remained. A large crater was shown south of the town of Five Island, and looked to Alaska like a portal to some dark dimension. Reports said that the device had been powerful but was small, only affecting the areas nearby, several islands in the area even being barely affected. But the costs were phenomenal: over five hundred people dead, hundreds more terribly injured and being rushed to dozens of hospitals around Kanto and Johto to deal with the flow of people. Dead Pokemon were washing up on the surrounding islands and residents were being warned not to touch them. Alaska almost collapsed to her knees as she saw an image that tore at her heart: a flock of dead Pidgey, there feathers almost burned off, laying on one of the islands.

"Who could do something like this?" Sandy whispered as she indeed collapsed into a chair, placing the egg down near the wet patch and clutching her chest. Alaska knew who it was though: only one person would have the atrocity to do something like this, only one person would so carelessly take away so many lives and not care at all. Alaska just wanted to scream, and wanted to run out and find Gideon and destroy him for doing this, kill him for all he was done, but worse of all, and one thing that made Alaska hate herself, she hated him for taking her journey from her.

**Just quickly: Nadia's capture was planned for this point for a while. I don't want Alaska and Sandy to catch a heap of Pokemon together quickly, as anyone who still watches the anime will see that that never really pays off in the giving-them-personality department, so expect to see things slow down evolution and capture wise. Also, Alaska's semi selfish feelings towards Gideon's act will be explored and expanded on, so don't be too shocked at those last lines**


	39. Chapter 27: Why Can't the Lights Be On?

**Chapter Twenty Seven: Why Can't the Lights Be On?**

"Does this really seem like a good idea?" Sandy whispered, though her voice echoed all around them.

"It's our only option, so it's going to be a good idea," Alaska replied irritably, though she was remaining by Sandy's side now and they were both walking nervously as if trying to walk around a sleeping giant. For all they knew, there could be a giant down there where the walls were meant to be, the lights above them only providing a dim yellow glow for the middle of the Underground Path they were in.

Alaska and Sandy had stayed behind to watch more news, but nothing new was coming in about the nuclear bombing and it was too depressing to stay around. After insisting on paying for their time together, feeling guilty for the small existence they had, Alaska bade farewell Andy and Judy as Sandy wept alongside. Nadia's Great Ball was alongside the others, and Sandy's new egg rested, well wrapped, in her green satchel. Alaska stuck by her as Sandy let her tears out, not for personal loss over the attack but simple shock and sadness that something like this could have happened. Alaska simply didn't say anything, her own feelings about what had happened consuming her thoughts: she was constantly asking herself why Gideon, the only person she could see doing this, had done it, what the purpose of these hundreds of murders had been, and what was she meant to do from here. Was Alaska just meant to walk on and ignore what was happening around her and focus on her journey like she wanted to, or try and find Gideon and put a stop to whatever his plans were?

It seemed the fates didn't want Alaska to proceed with her gym journey, at least not in the way she wanted: Alaska and Sandy arrived at a large gatehouse leading into Saffron City, only to be told by a guard it was locked. Saffron City, apparently, was a regular target of terrorists due to the Magnet Train, Silph Co. and its powerful Psychic gym, and until the source of the nuclear bomb was confirmed, they had locked down the city as a precaution. Alaska shared several colourful words with the guard that shocked Sandy right out of crying, but the guard must be used to it and directed them towards a path the went underneath the city for situations like this. It wasn't ideal, but it would take them to Vermilion City, and Alaska was happy for that.

Entering through a small area the size of a public bathroom with a smell similar to three of them, Alaska and Sandy embarked down a large staircase and entered a long tunnel of almost complete darkness. Sandy was so stunned that her tears stopped instantly and she clung to Alaska's arm, and Alaska felt too uneasy about being here to care. There was no sign of the opposite end or even of the walls on either side, and the two were forced to walk side by side along the middle where the yellow lights flicked ominously above them, almost as if they were about to die.

"Can we possibly move faster?" Sandy whimpered as sounds echoed all around them that they weren't making.

"I think that would be smart," Alaska said, not entirely willing to admit she was scared but would feel more reassured as they moved down these hallways. She came to a sudden pause and swung her bag around. "I think we should send our Pokemon out and I'll get that bloody gun out." She looked to Sandy for confirmation and was surprised to see a pout on her face.

"Why don't I get a weapon?" Sandy whinged. "I didn't even get to try the gun yesterday, and I can't just walk around here with no defence? What if some leapt up and grabbed me and teleported away?" Alaska turned at her, rather amused at her little cry, and smiled as she reached into her bag.

"You can have these," she said with a beam. Sandy stared excitedly, but her excitement turned to an annoyed glare as Alaska pulled out the tray of brownies with the knife embedded in its hard surface.

"No thanks," she replied as Alaska began to laugh and quickly passed the tray back inside. The two girls moved quickly, and a few seconds later Paige and Butterfree were fluttering under the lights, while Bellsprout rested on Sandy's shoulder as Nadia formed beneath Alaska's feet.

"Ran Ran Nido Nido!" Nadia said, pawing at the ground and glaring at the Pokemon around her. Paige looked down at her and then up at Alaska, pulling a rather confused look as the trainer grabbed the metal box.

"I don't have time to tell you everything I do," Alaska replied indignantly as she clicked open the metal box and pulled the small rocket launcher-like device out. Paige gave a shrug of agreement and fluttered down to greet Nadia, but was only met with an angry growl as the Nidoran leapt forwards. "Nadia, don't hurt Paige: she is one of your friends now, so be nice!" Nadia looked up at her new trainer as if the idea of being nice was the stupidest idea she had ever heard, but gave an obedient nod anyway. "Alright then troops, let's just move forwards and keep a look out for anything dodgy: if something moves, attack first and ask questions later."

"Alaska!" Sandy gasped. "What if an elderly woman is having a lovely stroll through here and we attack her?"

"Than we'd better move around her then, won't we?" Alaska suggested with a smile, and she took off at her usual stroll once more, feeling more confident now that she had the gun at her side and four Pokemon with them. Sandy moved quickly, not wanting to be caught behind if someone was around them. Their footsteps and the movement of Paige and Butterfree's wings echoed around them, but Alaska was focused on getting out of there and didn't want to worry about things. However, Sandy suddenly gasped behind and she turned around, wondering if something was wrong.

"I think I heard something," Sandy whispered, quivering with fear and clutching Bellsprout. "It sounded like something was rolling." Alaska paused for a second and tried to listen, but all she could hear was a slightly creeping dripping sound from a leaking pipe, and became less afraid unless the plumbing was going to strangle them.

"I can't hear anything, let's keep moving," Alaska said, giving Sandy a reassuring smile before setting off once more. Nadia had moved on ahead, clearly eager to find whatever might be there, and Paige gave Alaska a judging look. "I was put on the spot, alright!" Alaska hissed back. "Nadia has potential, just give her time!" Paige gave her another look before flying back to be with Butterfree, leaving Alaska to sigh and roll her eyes.

"Hey Alaska," Sandy called out, the echoes of her voice cancelling any chance of silence allowing them to hear anyone, but Alaska enjoyed hearing someone familiar speak in this dark environment and could tell from her voice that Sandy wanted to be talking. "Why do you think that nuclear explosion happened?" Alaska was unsure about sharing her theories, but thought it might be good to voice them aloud.

"I have a feeling Gideon may be behind it," she replied. "After what Bill said about him being a Team Rocket scientist, he must have had access to technology of the sort, and he has had a long time to make a bomb."

"But why would he do it?" Sandy said in a shocked voice. "I thought he was looking for fossils. Maybe he was trying to resurrect them or something, like they do in museums." Alaska came to an abrupt halt and turned around, not sure whether to gasp or smile.

"Sandy, you're brilliant!" She cried, happy now to have voiced her theories. "Remember how he was trying to steal those plans from the Pewter Museum? What if he is trying to bring fossilized Pokemon back to life? I don't think that will be why the bomb went off, as it is probably some sort of strategic move, but this could be his master plan, or at least part of it!"

"You mean the mad scientist just wants to bring some fossils back to life?" Sandy said, clearly not as excited as Alaska was. "If he wants to bring fossils back, why can't he just teleport into a facility and use a machine that is already there? Besides, I read on your blog that you didn't want to stay involved in all of this drama anyway, so why are you putting these pieces together?"

"When did you read that? I only posted it last night," Alaska said curiously.

"You left the page open and I had a quick read when I found your charger," Sandy explained. "Why don't you just tell that Surge guy or whoever the gym leader is your theories, get them to pass it on and Bob's your uncle!"

"Fair point," Alaska said with a nod. "Thanks for that," she added with a smile. "It is nice to have someone to remind me to be sane – looks like I'll be keeping you after all!" The two began to laugh as Alaska turned back around, ready to continue on her journey. She was glad for the reminder to stay out of things, but didn't dare mention one thing Sandy's last words had put in her mind: if Gideon was bringing fossils to life, why wasn't he using the machines already available?

However, just as Alaska turned back around, she could tell something was wrong: though Paige and Butterfree were chatting to themselves just above them all, Nadia had paused up ahead, looking around in confusion. Now that they weren't talking, Alaska could hear a noise: listening carefully, it sounded like something rolling, exactly what Sandy had pointed out before. A glance around showed the blonde was stunned, confirming she had heard it as well, and Alaska grasped firmly onto the gun.

"Everyone, focus!" Alaska cried, and Paige and Butterfree stopped talking and turned around, wondering what was going on. The rolling sounded once again, and Alaska felt crept out as she spun around, trying to find this mysterious foe but getting nothing. The rolling continued to get closer, and it was beginning to sound strange, almost metallic, with a sparking noise every few seconds. Alaska was spinning around, her finger ready on the trigger for whatever was coming her way, getting concerned about what was coming her way. There was a momvent behind her, and Alaska turned around and raised the weapon, but it was barely above her chest when a hand shot out and grasped onto it.

"Run, this isn't a fight you can win," the person said, and Alaska gasped as she recognised the voice: it was the same strange almost robotic voice that had whispered to her in the Beedrill's nest and had helped them escape, the same person she had tried to chase after yesterday in Cerulean City. She wanted to drag the person into the light and reveal their identity, but they let go of the weapon and pushed her backwards. "Go, this is all too dangerous!"

"Who is this?" Sandy suddenly shrieked, running forward and clinging to Alaska for support, but she pushed her away and aimed the rocket launcher at where the hands had come from.

"Why on earth should I trust you?" Alaska hissed. "You could be luring us into some false sense of needing to rely on you, when you could be behind all of this yourself!" But before the person got a chance to answer, there was a rolling nearby and Alaska, Sandy and their Pokemon all turned around. Something had appeared back the way they had come: it was perfectly round, explaining the rolling, and was half white and half red. The large ball spun around, and Sandy gasped dramatically when she saw a face.

"It's an Electrode, Gideon is here!" She screamed and began to run. However, Alaska stared more closely, taking a short step forwards and gripping the gun tighter: there was something about the eyes that just didn't look right. There were red, and were glancing around in a rather unnatural way…

"Oh crap, it's another fucking robot!" Alaska yelled furiously and pulled the trigger of the gun: she had no idea what was going to happen, but just wanted to get rid of the bloody robots once and for all. However, as the ElecBot began to roll forwards, all that came out of the launcher were three large spikes on wire. They hit the robot and bounced right off before reeling back in. Alaska looked down at the weapon as if she had a piece of crap in her hands and decided to run, not knowing how to properly work the gun as she had ignored Bill out of annoyance yesterday, and didn't have time to work it.

"NIDOOOO!" Nadia yelled, running past Alaska and heading straight for the ElecBot. Alaska turned around in shock as Nadia's head glowed white, a Skull Bash being initiated. For a moment it looked like it could be effective as Nadia yelled and charged forwards, but the hope was dashed as once the Nidoran struck Electrode. A slight yellow glow surrounded the ElecBot, and Alaska had only a seconds warning as Nadia was blasted towards her like a cannonball. She dived, but the spiked body managed to hit her hips and sent them both sprawling, the gun and Alaska's bag sliding into the darkness.

"Free Free," Butterfree cried and dived into the black, Alaska realising her Compoundeyes were going to help her find them, but a glance down at her hip showed a five centimetre long bleeding cut caused by Nadia's spikes.

"I told you to run!" The robotic voice yelled, and a foot aimed a kick at the ElecBot. It was powerfully enough and unexpected to send the Pokemon rolling away, but it bounced back a second later glowing yellow all over. Alaska knew what was coming, but only had time to cover her own head before the electricity was fired.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sandy screamed as the lights above them all exploded, sending hot glass showering down and turning the tunnel into complete darkness. Pain shot through Alaska's legs as a fleeing Sandy tripped over them, and Alaska knew they had to act. Looking around showed the darkness could work in their favour in one way: ElecBot's eyes shone a deadly red and sparks constantly flew from it, giving them an idea of where they were.

"PAIGE!" Alaska cried.

"Pidgeotto Pidge!" The Flying type called back, though Alaska had no idea where she was.

"You're able to fly at night, so use your eyes and try and find the exit!" Alaska called back, and her faithful companion squawked back, a flash of wings signalling that she had taken off. Sandy stirred around Alaska's feet as the ElecBot stayed a few metres away. The invisible figure was no where to be seen, and Alaska wondered if this was some ruse or if the electricity had knocked him out, but thoughts of them left her mind as a figure moved nearby.

"Free Butterfree Erfree," Butterfree said, her eyes glowing a slight pink to provide extra light, though Alaska saw it was actually a Psybeam holding the metallic weapon and her bag up.

"Excellent!" Alaska said with a smile, rather relieved to have them back. "Thanks a lot," she added, and Butterfree nodded as Sandy got to her feet, both her and Bellsprout rubbing their heads.

"Oh my god, the egg, is it alright?" Sandy gasped, reaching into her satchel but Alaska snatched her hands away and passed her bag over.

"Grab the brownies and use the tray as a shield if Electrode attacks," Alaska said seriously. "You lot start running and grab Nadia, follow Paige. I am going to hold off the ElecBot and follow after."

"Good plan," Sandy said, staring nervously across at the ElecBot before starting to run. Alaska smiled as they ran, glad they were out of the way, and turned around to face the robot with the weapon in her hands. It provided a dim glow as she turned a circular part that was meant to change settings and pointed it at Electrode: it was like an old fashioned stand off, Alaska with the weapon and the robot with its electricity. They were both staring intensely at each other, both wishing to eliminate the other.

"I would love to stay and chat, maybe find out who sent you, but I really need to get to Vermilion so I'll just kill you and get going," Alaska said with a smile and pulled the trigger. There was a sound like a firework shooting into the sky, and for a shocking second Alaska thought the cylinder shaped thing that had been fired was a firework. But as it landed on the ground and broke apart, she realised it was something similar: a flare.

Within seconds, a giant shooting tower of fire was lighting up the tunnel, and Alaska suddenly caught sight of the figure: long black coat, hat covering their face, leather boots underneath long pants. The figure appeared to be running, and Alaska wanted to call out and ask what they were doing when she heard a rolling: the ElecBot was rolling around the flare and the orange and red sparks coming off from it, and was heading straight for Alaska. She cried out and began running backwards, trying to change the settings but knew that she wasn't going to make it…

"BEEEEEELLLL!" Alaska turned in shock, which turned out to be good as she knew to dodge the large metal tray flying her way. The brownie tray smashed into the ElecBot, enough force generated from Bellsprout swinging it with Vine Whip to blast it backwards. A Signal Beam crashed into the ground nearby as well, tearing through the concrete ground and pushing Electrode back further, while several purple stings were released that fell short. Alaska turned around with a bright smile to see Sandy standing with Butterfree, Bellsprout and Nadia as they all shot their attacks. They added to the light created by the flare, and Alaska had a clear path to run ahead. Once they saw she was coming, Sandy led them off in a sprint down the corridor towards a flight of stairs in the distance.

"Cheers for that!" Alaska called out with a wide smile, stunned that her friend and Pokemon had managed to pull that off. "That electricity would have blown me up if it wasn't for you lot!"

"Well, next time you pass me a tray of brownies, I'll make sure I use them," Sandy replied, and Alaska was so relieved they were escaping unharmed that she allowed herself to laugh. Nadia looked pleased as they ran alongside each other, and Alaska scooped her up.

"That was a great first job," Alaska told her, and Nadia smiled mischievously. "If I can just control your eagerness to battle, than you'll be a real force!"

"Nido Ran Ran," Nadia said with a smile, and Alaska laughed again. By this time they had reached the stairs, and she and Sandy pounded up them. Paige was waiting overhead, and Butterfree shot up to join her. Noises echoed behind them, and Alaska spared a second to glance back, watching as sparks flew bigger and faster from the ElecBot as it continued to glow a furious yellow.

"We bettet get out of here, I think our friend is having a fit," Alaska cried. They quickly spread through another bathroom sized and smelling building and poured through the door onto Route 6. Alaska wanted to keep running, but the sudden sunlight after being inside was blinding and she had to shield her eyes, placing Nadia to the ground in order to use both hands. She had only gotten a brief glimpse of the tall trees blowing in the wind around them before forcing herself to stare down at the ground, where Sandy had collapsed from exhaustion, Bellsprout lying alongside and resting on the brownies.

"Well," Alaska said with a puff, "I think that tunnel went better than it could have." Sandy opened her mouth to respond, but Alaska didn't hear as something loud thudded behind her. Curious and cautiously, she opened the door behind her to see what was going on.

She closed it a second later as an orange fist of fire rose from the stairs, but Alaska didn't have time to run before the door was blown off its hinges.


	40. Chapter 28: Getting Stoned

**Chapter Twenty Eight: Getting Stoned**

If it hadn't been for the door, Alaska would have been killed.

She tried to scream out, but even she couldn't hear herself over the roar of the explosion. Orange burned through her eyelids as the door was sent flying forwards, the weapon flying from her hands and bits of wood jabbing into her back. Alaska could tell that the explosion must have died down, otherwise the door would have been fully blasted in half, but it had simply turned into a large shield that was pushing Alaska to the ground as shots rose up all around her.

After only a few seconds in the air that felt like longer, Alaska crashed into the ground. The door bounced away but not before hitting her across the head. Alaska rolled through long grass with a loud grunt, her bag bouncing around and making her worry about her PokeBalls and laptop. But once Alaska finally came to a stop, she knew that her friends and Pokemon were more important to worry about.

"Odd Odd Oddish!" Several Oddish rushed away as Alaska looked up, clutching her head as her brain bounced around inside and felt along the temple to find she was bleeding where the door had hit her. But Alaska forced herself to get to her feet even though it made her head pound, and she watched as a pack of Meowth ran past, led by a concerned looking Persian. The worried looks on their faces were possibly just from the explosion, but Alaska didn't want to know what was left behind and looked up nervously.

The building she had past through less than a minute before was now destroyed: the windows and roof had been shattered and a fire was roaring inside, though its smoke paled in comparison to the thick black smoke rising up from the tunnel. The walls remained in tact though, and Alaska quickly remembered that Sandy, Bellsprout and Nadia had been on the ground when it happened.

"Pidgey Pidge Otto!" Paige rushed over, several feathers at odd angles but otherwise alright. She looked concerned as she came over, and Alaska couldn't help but tear up and pull her friend into a hug. "Pidge!" She squawked as Alaska clutched her tightly, but the hug became more gentle and they stayed this way for half a minute.

"Nidoooo!" The sad cry sounded all around, and Alaska quickly snapped out of her emotions as the noise struck her. She let go of Paige and tried to run forwards, but her right knee must have struck the ground hard as it was painful to run on, forcing Alaska to simply hobble forwards. She was relieved to see that Sandy was sitting upright, glass strewn through her hair and clothes but otherwise unharmed, and Bellsprout's small and flexible body had allowed her to escape injury. Butterfree had flown away with Paige and was fine as well, so Alaska focused back on Nadia who was a few feet away.

"Nadia, are you alright?" Alaska called. The Nidoran was cowering where Alaska had put her down, which had been only a few feet from the door. The little blue Pokemon was shaking furiously, and Alaska was shocked to see a cut across her back from flying grass, but her strong claws had allowed her not to be blown away by the blast.

"Oh Nadia!" Alaska said, collapsing down onto her knees and picking up the Nidoran. Nadia's tough personality had disappeared under light of this situation, and Alaska felt terrible for leaving her behind, but could only worry about what might have happened if things had been different in any way.

"I think I can hear sirens," Sandy called out. Alaska looked behind and saw a fire engine racing out of Vermilion in the distance, but there was also a siren sounding much closer. Alaska tried to find it, but turning around was only making her head shake and throb. She could feel blood dripping down her shoulder, but as she did the world began to spin. Paige, Nadia and Sandy all cried out, but Alaska had no idea why as she fell backwards onto the grass, staring up at the sky and wondered why things around her were going black. She caught a brief glimpse of Paige as she appeared overhead squawking loudly, but Alaska couldn't understand why and shut her eyes, wondering if it a little nap would make things better…

* * *

_You are in grave danger, Alaska Acevedo. The longer you stay on this path, the longer you are putting yourself at risk. If you cross Gideon's path again, he will most likely eliminate you. Once Neil Bolton hears you are still alive, he will stop at nothing to eliminate you. You must stop this Alaska Acevedo, before it is too late_

_Who are you? Why are your saying these things?_

_I simply can see the truth you are unwilling to see. Stop your journey, or you and your family, your Pokemon and Alexandra will be further at risk from two forces that are willing to tear our world apart. Stop your journey Alaska before it is too late… _

* * *

"Hello there Alaska. It's nice to see your finally coming around.

Alaska let out a groan as her eyes began to flicker open, only to shut them tightly due to the sunshine coming in through a window and shining directly into her face. There was something soft around her head, but Alaska's head still felt as if her gym battle with Brock was being re-enacted on top of her brain. All she could remember was the incident in the tunnel and than seeing the explosion, but every after that was a blur of strange blue light, a shadowed figure that hadn't been human and deep, meaningful voices. The bed she was in felt comfortable, though Alaska began to note she was only wearing a singlet and underwear underneath the thick blankets.

"I don't know what is going on, but I sure hope that whoever you are, you didn't undress me," Alaska murmured and glanced towards the sound of raucous laughter. She had been expecting it to be a doctor, nurse or Sandy, but was surprised to see a grey haired man sitting next to her. He was wearing long grey-brown pants and elaborate purple felt jacket that looked like her grandfather's dressing gown had been butchered. Despite the grey hair the man looked a lot younger, possibly only in his late thirties or early forties, and it wasn't until he had stopped laughing that Alaska's injured head registered who he was.

"Your Steven Stone, aren't you?" Alaska gasped. "You were the Hoenn Champion after defeating Mr Devon, and then you had that really famous battle with Wallace that you eventually forfeited because…"

"I said that I was getting bored and he could have the title and all the glitter coated crap that came with it," Steven replied calmly and Alaska let out a laugh that quickly turned into a cough. "If it reassures you to know, you are not going to be terribly wounded by that explosion yesterday. You have several stitches in your head and they suspect you may have twisted your knee in an odd way when you struck the ground, but you are expected to recover nicely.

"I've been here overnight?" Alaska said in shock, her relief at not being injured being overshone by this fact. "Have you been sitting here all this time and perving at me in my undies?" Steven let out another laugh, but Alaska gave him a look to show she was serious.

"Oh dear, I am not interested in your body in the slightest, though you are a very attractive young woman," the ex champion said. "I am asexual: I do not believe in waffling away my time with a romantic conquest of any variety. My Rock and Steel Pokemon are my only love, and I have my time devoted towards expanding our world's possible knowledge on the legends of our past.

"Well, I am sorry to tell you this, but loving a Rock type sounds like it would lead to some pretty painful sex," Alaska said, and Steven's laughter echoed around as one hand clutched his side and the other patted Alaska on the arm.

"Oh my, your sense of humour is as inappropriate and vulgar as your blog suggests, but I must admit I walked into that." Alaska would have been willing to laugh along, but something the seemingly kind man had just said turned her laughter into a scowl.

"You've read my blog?" She said in almost a hiss. "Let me guess: Professor Oak or Bill or one of the 'Kanto Elites' found out I was involved and sent you here to check on me, just make sure I was still alive and to possibly help you in dragging Gideon out of hiding, or some stupid plan like that?"

"Heavens no my dear," Steven said with a gasp. "I am currently in Vermilion City for a meeting with the Pokemon Fan Club President concerning some theories he has that could help me into my current research when I heard about the explosion. I must admit that I have heard of you through Bill and have been reading your blog, which I read more for its delightfulness than for your account of the grim dealings you've been through. I came to see if you were alright and saw you were on your own and thought it was best that you woke up to someone." Alaska was convinced by the story, but another fear rushed through her that made her try and swing her legs around.

"Where are Sandy and my Pokemon?" She asked as she tried to move, but Steven leapt up and pulled her back around just as Alaska's head throbbed.

"While you got the worst injuries and shouldn't move," Steven warned, "Sandy was not harmed by the explosion, asides from glass landing on her and leaving a few small cuts that were easily treated. She recounted what happened in the tunnel to police officers, from the Electrode robot to the shadowed figure, but whilst firemen have found some electronic parts, there are no signs of human remains so we can only presume the figure got away." Alaska found this interesting, but was more eager to know about her Pokemon.

"Your Nidoran has suffered a cut on her back but the nurse at the Pokemon Center sewed it up, and Paige and Sandy's Butterfree and Bellsprout were healed as well and are currently resting," Steven explained with a smile. "Sandy went into shock for a while and I didn't like the idea of her stressing out at the police station or by your bedside, so she is currently with a friend of yours at Vermilion Gym." Alaska had no idea who this friend was, but lay back in the bed and sighed with relief.

"I am glad the Pokemon are alright, but I feel so bad for Nadia: she'd only be on my team for a few hours and she's already injured," she explained with a sad sigh, staring out of her window at the clear blue sea around her. "Is all our stuff alright?"

"Your bag is here, and I checked through and your laptop and that contraption Bill gave you are all fine," Steven said, "and I found it amusing to see you have those brownies," which caused Alaska to laugh softly. "Sandy's things are fine as well: she was worried her egg may have been damaged, but it was insulated well. She told me about Andy and Judy, a nice couple I have known for a while: it is a pity they don't have the facilities anymore to look after the egg themselves, but Sandy seems friendly and competent."

"She and the Pokemon saved me in the tunnel," Alaska explained. "The ElecBot was about to smash right through me when they pushed it away. I really should thank them again." Steven nodded to this and they fell silent. Alaska felt tired, but she had never been one for lying on her bed at home with nothing to do and decided to continue her conversation. "Is there any news as to who is behind the robot, or who is behind the nuclear bomb on Chrono?" Steven looked quizzically down at Alaska, a half smile coming onto his face that slightly unnerved Alaska.

"You seem quite with things," the champion explained. "Always eager to find the answers and work out what is happening: I know you said on your blog you wanted to ignore things, but I think you stand a good chance at solving things." Alaska felt uncomfortable at this: she didn't want to get further involved with anything, but his words made her think she should be.

"I think Gideon was behind the nuclear bomb," Alaska explained to deflect the statement. "It seems like something he would do, but I am not sure why. I don't think he is behind the robots though: he seemed surprised by the GolemBot, and it would have ended up killing him if Onix hadn't crushed it. However, Sandy and I were discussing things and I think Gideon is trying to build his own fossil resurrection machine but with some sort of added twist." Steven nodded along with this, wearing a look that seemed similar to as if they were having an intellectual debate over tea rather than in a hospital bed.

"Your talents are far too wasted to be in this room," Steven said suddenly, not acknowledging Alaska's theories at all which slightly stunned her. "I am going to see if I can take you out in a wheelchair, just to give you a lovely view of the city, and than we can go and find Miss Samson, alright?"

"Sure, but what about my – ," Alaska began, but was interrupted as Steven briskly leapt to his feet and walked out of the room. Only now that she was alone did Alaska realise how bare the room was, with only one window in front of her and a door to the side, possibly a bathroom on the other but she didn't care enough to check.

All of these things that were happening to her were confusing and frustrating. Alaska had left Viridian City to finally embark on a journey and to show Chloe and everyone what a true trainer without a starter type could do. While she had her two gym badges and four Pokemon, Alaska was annoyed with herself for getting involved in all of this. She could only imagine what might have happened if she hadn't bother to dive into the Beedrill's nest or hadn't gone into the Pewter Museum: would her life be simpler? Would she had ever encountered Gideon and gotten involved in his mad plan, or had to deal with giant robots and mysterious men that hid in the shadows? Than there were all the famous people that knew who she was, the strange brain switching blue lightning and the electronic voice at the gyms that enjoyed mocking her – the number of mysteries were building up and Alaska didn't have the answers to any of them.

Tears of frustration began to build up as Alaska angrily lashed out with her good leg, kicking the sides of the bed. All she had wanted was a nice normal journey, but now she had robots trying to kill her and people who probably had access to every detail of her life that was on record. Gideon had most likely blown up an entire island and killed hundreds of people, but Alaska didn't even know why yet a part of her wanted to go across to Chrono Island and start looking for clues through the ashes.

No matter what Alaska wanted, she was caught up in something bigger than herself. Though the voice in her dreams sounded too real to be part of her subconscious, whatever it was had a fair point that she could only get deeper into the mystery now. Alaska allowed her tears to stream silently down her face as she knew that there was no way she could get out of this, and that things were only going to get worse from here on.


	41. Chapter 29: The Bronzed & the Bothersome

**I'd just like to say that all theories shared in the reviews about what happened to the ElecBot and who was speaking to Alaska are incorrect ;) There is a connection between the blue light that appeared in Alaska's dream and two other events in the story. **

**Chapter Twenty Nine: The Bronzed and the Bothersome **

Of all of the new cities and places Alaska had visited, Vermilion had to be the most beautiful yet.

It had fully embraced its coastal setting whilst retaining a professional, economic stronghold that allowed it to combine Pewter's seriousness with Cerulean's laid back appeal. As Alaska was wheeled from the Vermilion Hospital, a tall white building quite close to the harbour, she was able to look around and fully absorb things. The buildings to her right varied from family businesses with cartoon signs and coastal themes to low rise office buildings containing department stores and fancy businesses. It was quite funny how well the two went together, and the businessmen in their tuxedos were moving from their dull grey buildings to the more colourful cafés and restaurants nearby.

To the right was a scene that was completely the opposite, yet far more enchanting than anything on land could possibly have.

Alaska had been down to Pallet Town several times during her life to see the sea, and had always been overwhelm by the wide expanse of blue, usually still and unmoving but sometimes roaring with waves twice her height. It had always seemed like a magical place where you could go and escape all your worries, she had always enjoyed diving in and letting the cool water wash over her, leaving her calm and relaxed no matter what had happened.

But Pallet Town had always been restricted by the land that jutted out and blocked most of the view, and Alaska and her siblings had never been allowed to venture any further beyond. Yet Alaska had to make Steven stop pushing her, just to give her time to absorb in the scene around her.

At Vermilion, it seemed the water would stretch on for all eternity. Land that made up Fuchsia City was far away in the distance, leaving a large harbour of pure blue that went out as far as land to left and the Cycling Road to the right allowed. Water Pokemon danced along the surface in packs, with Gyarados leaping high into the sky as Goldeen and Seaking skimmed through the water. It looked cool and inviting, and Alaska could imagine herself diving beneath the surface and allowing all of her pains, both physical and emotional, seeping away.

They continued to travel, and Alaska was allowed to see more of the coastal landscape. Vermilion had the largest industrial and commercial port in Kanto, and the large concrete pathways stuck out amongst the cobbled footpaths and red brick roads. The ports managed the fresh, new look light concrete always seemed to give, which was helped by three very modern cranes at one end and a flash, mostly glass building that served as a ferry and cruise terminal. There were no ships anywhere at the moment, but the more Alaska and Steven moved into the city the more private vessels appeared, ranging from small motorboats to gigantic super yachts that probably cost more than everything in Alaska's house added together.

The heart of the city showed the same variety of buildings, though there were more towering structures here that were enclosed by the surrounding cliffs, which Steven said was so the people on the hotel floors wouldn't be disturbed by the noises of the harbour. There were more people moving around her, many of them carrying large shopping bags from a nearby row of stores, each of the people having distinct signs that marked them out as tourists: more festive, relaxed clothing, different accents, pointing out various places and taking pictures. Each tourist seemed different, yet there was one thing Alaska noted about them that made her heart sink: each one of them had a smile on their faces.

"Shall we take a short break?" Steven asked suddenly. Alaska had become lost in thought, wondering about the blue flashes, deep voice and strange silhouette that had appeared in her dream. She hadn't even focused on time, but her stomach let out a rumble that made Steven laugh.

"I guess having a break couldn't hurt," Alaska said with a smile. The main road through the heart of the city, which Steven had explained as being this width to allow container trucks to pass through, was dotted with various stalls and carts selling food. Steven got several shocked gasps from a group of Hoenn tourists as he brought two cartons of hot chips to share with Alaska, but he simply flashed them a smile before leading Alaska down a side road.

"Why did you give up being Champion?" Alaska asked as Steven lead her towards a large bare area with a hole dug roughly in the middle. Steven let out a sort of longing sigh, but didn't answer until he had led Alaska to a wooden park bench facing towards the hole, which Alaska was presuming as being foundations.

"I don't want to dishearten you from carrying on with your journey, nor am I making this up as some sort of scheme that we 'elites' are using against you," Steven said, making Alaska smirk slightly, "but being a Champion is just not that fun. I enjoyed it for the first few years, but I was at the mercy of the Hoenn League Council: I couldn't do or say what I wanted in case it caused a controversy, I was always having to do interviews and make public appearances, I was always being hunted down for my opinion or asked to endorse something. All I wanted to do was battle and continue to learn and test my skills, and I wanted to make a change in the world. The only things I was learning was how being a Champion is really a business than it is fun, and I was only making a change in the world of designer fossil tools." Alaska let out a laugh that quickly turned into yet another cough and made her feel light headed, though it covered up the worries seeping through her: she had heard many times that being Champion wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but she longed for the day where she could stand in the Hall of Fame and see her name permanently there in gold. Yet… how would she feel in several years time?

"Now, as you asked me a question, I feel I should get a chance," Steven said once Alaska had recovered and he had somehow elegantly eaten through his chips. "You seem to dislike the fact that we are all reading your blog: what exactly is the problem with that?" Alaska spent a few moments chewing a single chip, wondering how to word things.

"It feels like I am being spied upon," she said at last. "I am writing my blog to share it with the world and to allow myself to one day look at and examine my journey. I never imagined it would end up this colourful, but I do enjoy the attention I am getting. But I just don't like how _I_ am the one that has to report the news, and it is putting pressure on me to continue to be the one to report this, and that if I don't tell the world what is happening, than bad things could keep happening. I sort of feel a bit like Peter Parker," Alaska added, and Steven took his turn to laugh.

"I guess that is fair," he said after a few moments. "I must admit that Oak, Bill, Elm, Fuji, Red, all of us have begun to expect you to rely the details. I spoke to Bill last night and I warned him about us putting too much pressure on you, trying to make you into the next Red or the next Brendan or Charles – we put too much pressure on the young ones to do all the work for us." Alaska nodded along, a burning question forming in her head, but she paused as Steven seemed to be lost in thought. She stared down into the hole, noticing a frail old man barking orders a Machoke, though she couldn't hear the words due to how far down he was.

"Why were you talking to Bill?" Alaska asked finally, trying to make it sound innocent but was afraid her curiosity was slipping in. However, Steven didn't even seem to notice and needed a prod from Alaska to come around.

"Oh, nothing overly important," Steven said with a shrug. "He just wanted to know if some of my research had to do with some blue lightning bolt yesterday, but there are always weird things where he is concerned. Though after what happened with Cla –," Steven froze at this point as Alaska had dropped her carton of chips, staring at the aging man with a look as if he had just slapped her. "Dear, is something wrong?" Alaska wanted to ask a million questions: what was his research, what had happened with who, was Bill worried about it. But just as she went to ask them, a piece of orchestral music began to chime, though it sounded robotic and overly quiet. Steven reached into a pocket of his velvet jacket and pulled out a grey PokeGear which he flipped open.

"Hello?" He said, leaving Alaska hanging and staring mournfully down at her spilt chips. "Oh that is good news… Miss Samson has them all? … Yes, that is fine, we'll go and see her now… Alaska is fine, thank you for asking… alright, good bye now!"

"I take it that involved me?" Alaska asked, and Steven nodded as he put the device away and stood up.

"Sandy has collected your Pokemon, so we are going to meet her at Vermilion Gym," Steven explained, ignoring the hot chips as he spun Alaska's wheelchair around, making sure her black bag was still in place in a slot under the seat, and began to push her back around the edge of the foundations. "The foundations are going along nicely, wouldn't you agree?"

"What does Bill think caused the blue lightning?" Alaska asked.

"Oh Alaska dear, I wouldn't want to burden you with information you shouldn't have to worry about," Steven replied casually, shocking Alaska: she had thought Steven was much more honest and forthcoming with information than Bill had been, but it seemed he was drawing a line and Alaska wouldn't be able to cross it. She wanted to push the subject more, but her head was beginning to throb and all Alaska felt like doing was enjoy getting pushed wheeled around, not wanting to worry about anything else. Steven seemed contempt with not pushing her and fell silent as well, and the two moved on peacefully, the only thing breaking it being the frail old man in the foundations yelling "We're ten years behind schedule, so if we're going to get this house built anytime soon we'd better get a bloody move on!"

* * *

Despite the size of the city and how it was all fairly spread out, all of the Pokemon related areas had been crammed together on one road.

Steven carted Alaska across the main road, which had died down with people as they all settled down for lunch, giving Alaska a clear view of a giant container ship moving towards the three cranes. But than the ocean was cut out as they entered the road nicknamed 'Pokemon Lane'. It was thinner than the main road but was wider than the one Alaska and Steven had just gone down. On one side was the PokeMart, giving Alaska a bit of nostalgia for simpler days working at the Viridian branch, and the other was the orange roofed Pokemon Center. There were a variety of stores around, ranging from a store titled 'The Fishing Brothers' to a Pokemon Fan Club with its adjoining store. Alaska was intrigued by all of this, but all of that changed one she set eyes upon the Vermilion City Gym.

She knew it was an Electric based gym, but Alaska had never expected what appeared at the end of the road: it was huge, not as big as the Cerulean Gym but looked as if the Pokemon Center and PokeMart could all fit in there. It had a glass dome that Alaska bet was retractable, and the rest of the building was made from yellow reflective glass that went around the entire building, joined together by the huge orange concrete frames. A flashing electronic PokeBall was built directly over the sliding doors, and Alaska was left in awe as it flashed yellow and released cartoon sparks that looked extremely 3-D. It was a gym that wanted you to come across as both flashy but strong and intimidating at the same time, and Alaska wondered what Lt. Surge would be like in person.

"Do you want to go in?" Steven said the first words either of them had seen for over five minutes. "It is a bit flashy in there and it won't do well for your headache." Alaska was lost in a trance at the sparkling gym, but snapped out of it and turned to face Steven.

"I want to see my Pokemon," she said firmly. "It feels like I abandoned them back there, and I want to see them and see how they are." Steven nodded with a knowing expression, and he pushed Alaska towards the doors. They slid open when they were a metre away, and Alaska gasped at the world they were entering.

Just like how Pewter had had sand and stones, and Cerulean had had a pool, Vermilion continued the theme of basing its gym around its type. The floor was made from orange tiles that glowed electronically, and the walls were a matching colour, not showing any sign of the outside world. Lights were built around the dome, providing some much artificial light that it covered anything shining through the dome. Alaska looked up and could see clouds and shaded blue through the black glass, but it strained her neck and made her head throb so she focused on the area in front of her. Though she was stunned to see how bare it all was: in front of her was simply an empty use of land, though Alaska could see several doors at the end that must lead towards offices. Retractable stands were built into the wall, and large poles containing plasma orbs flashed high above them. It seemed to Alaska that the gym was designed to look good rather than to be practical, unlike the previous two, and was rather unimpressed.

"I bet this place has one fucking huge electricity bill," Alaska said, and Steven roared with laughter, a noise that echoed all around. It seemed that this had finally alerted anyone inside to their presence, and Alaska was pleased to see Sandy burst through the door at the end, curving around the side of the gym and running at full pelt.

"Ooooooooh Alaskaaaaaa!" Sandy cried, rushing forwards and flinging her arms around Alaska, nearly knocking her backwards off the chair. "I thought you were going to die, I was so worried, and than the police made me talk to them and all I could think about was wheter you were going to live or not and I am so sorry!"

"Why, it wasn't your fault," Alaska said, giving her friend a hug and reassuring pat. "I should be the one to apologise!" Alaska wasn't sure what she would apologise for, but she had always seen people saying they'd take the blame and felt as if Sandy would be reassured by it. Sandy continued to sob, so Alaska didn't notice as someone else approached them.

"You SHOULD apologize!" Someone snapped alongside, and Alaska looked around in surprise as Mitchell stood next to her, currently the same height as her as she remained in her seat. He wore a smug look on his face whilst his eyes were wide and staring at her, almost as if he was expecting something. Alaska was stunned to see him here, but quickly realized what he wanted an apology for.

"You switched my brain with a Pidgeotto," she snapped, "and I nearly got blown up yesterday. I'm not in the mood to deal with you, so you can kiss my arse if you think I am going to forgive you." Mitchell tutted and stared defiantly at Alaska, as if his bug-eyed expression was meant to change her mind. Alaska simply raised a hand and gave him the finger, wearing a warm smile on her face.

"Fine then, be that way!" Mitchell huffed. "And I wouldn't want to go anywhere near your flabby bum! It's probably all covered in skid marks and smells disgusting."

"Ah, the immaturity of youth," Alaska said with a smile that made Mitchell tut again, and Sandy pulled out of the hug laughing, despite the tears pouring down her face. "So how did you make it here?"

"I made it through the tunnel before _you _blew it up!" Mitchell said with a sneer as he folded his arms up to his chest and stared up at the dome. "Lt. Surge wouldn't battle me though because he had to deal with the explosion, so thanks a bunch Avocado!"

"Your welcome rat face," Alaska replied, and Mitchell simply huffed and pouted. However, Alaska quickly went into thought: the ElecBot obviously hadn't appeared to cause any harm to Mitchell if he had gotten through unharmed, which meant that either it had been put in after he had gone through, which couldn't have been much earlier than her and Sandy, or it had been specifically put in to go after them.

"Your Pokemon are all safe," Sandy said as she wiped back tears, and she fished around in her satchel and pulled out the balls containing Paige and Nadia. "They are all better, though the nurse said Nadia shouldn't do anything rigorous until her cut has properly healed." Alaska nodded and took them back, smiling encouragingly up at Sandy who looked close to tears once more.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it," Alaska said. "You saved me from being killed by the ElecBot, so let's just focus on that, alright? It's behind us now, we can focus on the future now." Sandy nodded, clearly cheered up by this and made Alaska feel better, even though she could feel Steven staring at her and knew deep down that the bombing wasn't behind her until she knew exactly what had happened. But luckily no one noticed her expression, and as a loud bang suddenly cut through the building.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the famous Alaska Acevedo," a heavily accented, very deep voice boomed around them, drawing everyone's attention to the speaker.

Alaska had seen pictures of Lt Surge in magazines, but she was still surprised to see him in person: he was a giant, well above six feet tall, and was built up like a body builder. Bronzed, muscular arms the width of Alaska's body grew out of a tight fitting green singlet, showing off a pair of large pectoral muscles that if Alaska walked into would probably split the other side of her head open. His camouflage pants hung loosely, but Alaska could only imagine the powerful leg muscles flexing with every step. A thick pair of black sunglasses disguised most of his face, but Alaska knew it was the rugged, handsome face of a soldier, though his shining white smile was smug and superior. Alaska examined him, from his tanned head with stubble-like blonde hair down to his thick leather boots: whilst he was like a wrestler and super model rolled into one, there was an arrogant air around him that annoyed Alaska before he had even walked over to her.

"So you're the one that nearly got blown up, eh?" Lt. Surge said once he had reached them and stared down at Alaska, removing his glasses to get a better look. "Brock, Misty and Clyde all told me about your skills, so I guess if you're handicapped I'll have a better chance!" He let out a machine gun laugh at the joke, but Alaska simply scowled at him, not finding the joke funny though her suspicions of his arrogance were confirmed. She didn't have any idea who Clyde was, but her scowling thoughts were interrupted as Steven walked around. He had remained silent during all this time that it wasn't a surprise he hadn't been noticed, and Sandy suddenly gasped and pointed at him, giving Alaska a stunned look.

"Now Surge, surely you can be a bit more considerate," Steven said in a tone that was both friendly but ice cold and cut the well built man off in his tracks. He took his glasses completely off and stared down at Steven with piercing green eyes.

"I'm allowed a little joke, aren't I?" Surge grunted. "Besides, if I was considerate to everyone than no one would fear me, and what is a gym leader without a little bit of fear in all the trainer's minds, eh?" He then turned towards Alaska, though his eyes focused more on the chair. "Look kid, I've heard you're a good trainer and I feel bad and all that about what happened in the tunnel, but all my staff are at a swimming competition along the Boardwalk so I'm a bit busy. Come back in when you're feeling better and I am sure I'll be ready to battle." Mitchell checked no one was watching him before giving Alaska a teasing face and poked his tongue, but Alaska didn't have time to be annoyed as she glared up at the muscular gym leader.

"Do you think I am only going to be able to fight when I am not injured?" She snapped. "I am a purely competent trainer, thank you very much: not many people are going to take on a robot in a dark tunnel, are they?" Surge tutted and bent down low to face Alaska, their noses only a few centimetres apart.

"I've done worse than face down a little toy in a dark passageway when I was fighting in the war," the gym leader growled, his accent becoming harder to understand as he angrily slurred his words. "I would gladly take you on and wipe the floor with you, but I wouldn't feel right about beating a poor little girl." Alaska always struggled with holding back her rage, and now was no different: Surge cried out as Alaska swung her head forwards, head butting the leader and making him leap backwards. Steven gasped while Sandy timidly clapped her hands.

"I may be in a wheelchair, but I will gladly take you on!" Alaska growled, grabbing one of her PokeBalls and raising it up. "Steven can referee for us if he doesn't mind, and then I will show you what I am truly capable of!" As she spoke, Alaska wondered if battling in her condition was the best idea, especially with no extra training for her team. However, Surge stared down at her as he rubbed his head and began to laugh.

"Alright then Miss Acevedo," the tanned gym leader replied, putting emphasis into each syllable of Alaska's name, "let us see if you are as big of a challenge as my colleagues seem to think." He grabbed a remote out of his shorts and pointed it at the empty field. There was a shudder that shook the whole building, and Alaska watched as certain tiles began to rise up. "First, you will get through the Mine Field, and than we will battle." Alaska had no idea what the Mine Field was and watched with dread and regret as objects rose up from the ground, sparks already beginning to fly.

**Vermilion Arc wraps up in the next round of chapters, but there will be a short break to write the final Kris vs Gold and the first of the Kanto series in 2008 The First Warriors, a rewrite of Red vs Leaf that I am doing mostly so the original ties in better with this series, so look out for it!**


	42. Chapter 30: Oh Zap!

**Chapter Thirty: Oh Zap!**

"I may not know my gym leader's Alaska, but from what I can tell, this guy is a bit of a dick."

"Thanks for that professional evaluation, but I have already figured that," Alaska said with a nod, staring at the gym leader from across the field: he was sitting on a leather chair with a smug look on his face, staring over at Alaska with a look that said 'Hurry up and fail so I can leave.' Alaska gladly would have rolled over there and dealt to him if it hadn't been for the two electric bolts between him and the rest of the gym.

Before her were twenty large poles that were tall, sleek and rather stylish, each one topped off with a giant red metal ball and several other pieces of metal, designed to unleash and collect electricity. Four bigger ones with more balls stood in the corners, and would produce electricity between one another once Alaska entered the main twenty. The aim was to find two switches: one would turn the four big ones off, and than Alaska had to find the second one straight away that would turn off the ones keeping Surge at bay. If she got the second one wrong, the whole thing would reset, and Surge had said that other non-dangerous things would happen if she got other switches wrong.

Alaska didn't want to take part in a little game where she was forced to think on her feet and try and twenty different switches while Surge watched from his seat, but he said it was part of his rules and Steven confirmed that it was official. She didn't like it, but if Alaska was going to battle Surge it had to be done.

"I am serious Alaska," Sandy said as she helped Alaska get out of the chair. "I've been here for a while and he's spent most of it telling me that travelling just to go travelling is a waste and kept trying to battle me until I send Onix out and a window out." Alaska laughed but than winced as she got to her feet: it felt painful standing on her legs, but it wasn't unbearable and Steven had brought a cane along to help. The ex Champion and Mitchell sat on the stands to the left, and Sandy planned on joining them after Alaska was sorted.

"Are you going to be alright?" Sandy asked nervously, pausing in passing Alaska's bag across.

"I will be fine," Alaska said firmly, not wanting to appear weak. She snatched the bag and swung it across her arm and grabbed the cane, even using it to push the wheelchair backwards out of reach. She smiled widely at Sandy who remained nervous, and tried not to let the pain of her current headache get across.

"Yes Xandy: Alaska here is a tough old bitch that doesn't need help, isn't she?" A voice said above, and Alaska looked around angrily as a robotic laugh echoed high above them.

"Not this bastard again!" Alaska hissed, swinging her cane madly to try and spot where it was coming from. The voice simply continued to laugh and Sandy had to hold onto Alaska as her legs gave way. "Who are you? Why do you keep following me?"

"Following you?" The voice scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself darling, I wouldn't dare follow you around! Can't you put the pieces together?"

"What pieces?" Alaska asked, and the voice continued to laugh.

"A brilliant battler but a simple mind," he scoffed. "My name is Clyde, and I am the security system that operates in every gym throughout Kanto, Johto and several facilities in Sevii. Unfortunately for you, they thought I needed a personality to make me more lively, so sucks to be you." Alaska was annoyed at being mocked, but felt more relieved: she had expected the voice to belong to some sort of cyber stalker.

"Why Clyde?" Sandy asked. "Kind of a silly name for a computer."

"It stands for Computerized League Institute Defence Enforcer thank you very much!" Clyde snapped back, and Alaska calmed down and began to smile, pleased to see the voice was getting annoyed now.

"Well I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a puzzle to solve," Alaska said and began limping across. Sandy went to say something but Alaska held a hand up to stop her, simply shaking her head. "I'll be fine, I promise." Sandy looked uncertain, but nodded all the same. She grabbed the wheelchair and her bag and rushed over to join Steven and Mitchell as Alaska limped towards the entrance. She wasn't happy about having to do this challenge with her sore leg and injured head, but Alaska wasn't going to give Surge any satisfaction as she made her way forwards.

"You know what to do Alaska," Surge yelled from behind his barriers. "Find the switch that stops the barrier around you and than find the switch to stop the barrier in front of me directly afterwards. You are welcome to use any methods you want or you're Pokemon, but I don't see how they'll be any use," the leader added with a smirk. Alaska pulled a face that seemed to make him happier as he pressed a button: the four large poles began to shoot electricity between each other as levels that would prevent Alaska from leaving. "Your time starts now – GO!"

Alaska placed her bag down and began to think: she wished she had thought of a strategy earlier, but there was no time to waste about that and began to think quickly. Nadia was out of the question to help from her injury, there was a chance Paige could hit a bolt and Alaska may need her during the battle and Frances might get scared. Alaska knew Darwin wouldn't mind things as much, but she wasn't going to risk using him.  
"Alright… let's just press buttons," Alaska thought, thinking it was simple enough. There was a white box on each pole with a chunky, dirty switch on it, the kind Alaska always say in buildings that were more than a few decades old. There was time to worry about things and Alaska set to work: she flicked a switch and looked around, seeing nothing had happened. She cursed but there were still 19 more to try: leave her bag there in order to mark one she had done, Alaska moved on to the next one. She tried the three nearest, but with each one nothing happened: no barriers came down, no added surprises appeared.

_What's the bet none of these switches do anything? _Alaska thought bitterly to herself, flicking another two nearby and getting nothing. She let out a growl and turned to see Surge smirking at her, making her further suspect something was up.

"You can do it Alaska! WOOOO!" Sandy called out. Alaska waved to absently to her in thanks before turning to the next switch, so bored that she whacked it with the stick. Suddenly, the entire floor shook. Alaska began to shake furiously, not helping either of her ailments, and had to lean against her the pole she'd just touched to support herself. Suddenly the other six she had already touched disappeared into the ground, as did another five. There was a whirring noise from below, only for the poles to reappear a few moments later. Alaska was stunned, wondering what that had been, but than it suddenly clicked.

"The poles I've already used have been switched to through me off," she voiced aloud, "or… that's what you want me to think." Surge's accent came out as he laughed deeply, leaving Alaska fuming: there was no way to tell which story it was, and the poles were identical. "Nice trick dick," she shouted and hobbled back to her bag, which she dragged and placed near the only she knew hadn't moved for certain. Surge's laughter echoed around and Alaska was getting annoyed, angrily slamming down another five switches nearby.

"This is just stupid and repetitive: what is the point of this other than amusing you?" Alaska snapped as she flicked another one, getting no result.

"I like to see how trainers act," Surge called out through his laughter. "I like to see what methods they use and their strategies. If someone can't cut it here, I generally send them back until they have the ability to face me again properly." Alaska wasn't going to admit it but did thinks this was a relatively sane idea to weed out who was not going to be successful, even if it was a rather mind twisting way.

"Well, rest assured I am not going to give up," Alaska said, flicking the nearest switch. She gasped with excitement as she saw the electricity disappear from around the corner, meaning she had found the first switch. Sandy looked up and clapped with delight, while Steven gave a sensible nod. Alaska punched the air in delight at this first victory, but than she realised the daunting task she had: now she had to find the second switch straight away, otherwise she the barrier would go back up and she'd be back to square one.

_I really don't need this, _Alaska thought grumpily as her head gave a throb, looking around for the second switch. The ones she had already pressed were behind her, leaving several ahead she hadn't ventured towards. Nervously, Alaska stepped up towards the nearest one, wonder if this was the right one or not, but realized she wouldn't find out unless she tried: fingers crossed, she reached out and flipped it.

"Bad luck!" Surge called as the ground began to rumble. Alaska swore loudly as the first barrier appeared again, but it was drowned out as every one of the twenty poles disappeared back into the ground. As they began whirring and switching around, Alaska noted her bag was about to fall through and hobbled over to grab it. She was furious at getting the wrong one, and stared up as the poles all rose up, every switch back to the up position, leaving Alaska with no hints. Just as things felt like they couldn't get any worse, Alaska's jaw dropped as the red balls began to spark. A few moments later, bolts of electricity began to arc between each ball, shooting off in all directions. Alaska had to shield her eyes from the brightness, but she realized that she was now trapped, with electricity to the sides and above.

"Bastard," she cursed, feeling close to collapsing onto the floor from the pain in her legs and the throbbing in her head. Surge was smirking and Alaska didn't really care, annoyed at this foul little trick of his. She wanted nothing more but to get back at him and play her only trick, but how…

"Maybe…," Alaska whispered, looking up at the poles. The plan was forming quickly in her mind and was terribly risky, but Alaska wasn't in the mood to think things through. "You said I could use Pokemon, right?" She called, and after getting a nervous nod from Surge she grabbed a PokeBall and rolled it forwards.

"PRIME APE APE!" Darwin yelled once he had formed, leaping around with excitement for several seconds before crashing into a pole and rolling backwards. He paused and looked curiously around at all the electricity over head and than over at Alaska, who was simply hoping her plan would work.

"Why did you send your Primeape out?" Steven called. "You told me earlier that he struggled to listen to you."

"He's my only chance on winning this," Alaska replied and then turned away from them, needing to focus. She grabbed one of Darwin's arms and looked him in the eye. "Look, you may not want to listen to me or obey orders, but I have one simple order for you: I want you to leap around and flick every single switch you find on or off, no matter what happens, alright?"

"Primey Prime," Darwin replied with a nod, a childlike sense of wonderment in his eyes as he thought of what he could do. Alaska gave him a smile back, hoping that he would simply stick to these orders.

"Don't touch the electricity though," Alaska said, and she moved back towards the general area where the first switch had been. "Alright Darwin: GO!" And with a single pounce Darwin leapt forwards, using his large hands to flick all the switches nearby. Alaska flicked the switch that should bring the barrier down and looked around to see nothing had happened. With a shrug she turned around to the next switch and tried that, just as Darwin went and hit two at one time, his arms stretching out.

"Wow, this certainly is a lot faster," Alaska boomed aloud with a cheesy grin. She saw Surge had gotten to his feet and she waved at him as she hit another two switches her cane.

"Be careful!" He yelled. "Pressing more than one switch could overload the system! It's already being pushed!" Alaska didn't know what this meant and looked around, nearly hitting Darwin as he flew by, and saw that the four larger poles were producing more and more electricity. Steven was even moving Sandy and Mitchell further up the stands away from it. Alaska didn't want to hurt them, but despite using Darwin the first barrier wasn't coming down.

"Overload the system…," Alaska mumbled, a second idea forming: this one was much riskier and could go seriously wrong, but Alaska knew it would take too long to find the right two switches. The second one could have already been hit but wasn't working as the first had to be down first. Trying to sort it out was wasting time Alaska's sore head didn't have, and she decided to do things her way.

"Let's say what you make of this strategy," Alaska yelled to Surge and she rammed her cane into the nearest switch box. The plastic was easily broken, exposing a series of wires underneath. "Darwin, get here!" She cried.

"What are you doing?" Surge yelled as Darwin swung around the poles as if they were trees.

"Using some initiative," Alaska shouted back before turning to Darwin. "Grab those wires and use ThunderPunch!" Surge and Steven both cried out, but Alaska ignored them as she dived behind her hairy Pokemon. Darwin pushed his gloved fist through the gap where the switch should and grasped onto the nearest wires. His fist began to glow yellow and instantly sparks began to fly out, the system overhead growing.

"PRIIIIIIIMEAAAAAAAAAPE!" He yelled, hair standing on end and the entire system pole beginning to shake. Alaska watched as more electricity arched overhead and surrounded her, and a slight turn revealed Surge was hiding behind his chair as the electricity around him grew. Alaska wasn't sure how things were going to end, but they didn't seem too bad at the moment.

Than they all exploded.

Alaska swore and covered her bag over head as the red balls of exploded. Sandy screamed as the lights flickered throughout the building, which for some reason began to whirr. Darwin still remained inside the pole as hot metal rained down upon them, and Alaska whacked his arm with her cane and pulled him backwards. The floor was shaking, some of the poles moving back into the ground only to come back up a moment later. Sparks shot up like fireworks from the destroyed poles, many of which were also glowing around their switch box, and Alaska moved as quickly as a bad leg would allow to escape before something bad happened.

It was only when she left the twenty poles did Alaska realise something else: the four larger poles had entirely exploded, sending glass, metal and wiring scattered across the room. Huge main pieces lay on the tiles, one of them crushing half of the stands. Lights continued to flicker on and off and the doors were opening without purpose.

"Well Darwin, I say that went well," Alaska said with a tired sigh and Darwin smiled next to her, giving her a tight hug. The ground continued to whirr behind them and Alaska watched as the twenty poles slid back into the ground, leaving behind tiny pieces of metal. The disappearing poles revealed Surge marching angrily forwards, as Steven led the way of the watchers.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Surge yelled, but Darwin moved forwards and raised both his fists, clearly willing to take on the muscular man. "You know how expensive it is going to be to replace all of that?"

"I was just showing you my way of doing things," Alaska replied. "I thought that's what you wanted to see?" Sandy and Mitchell giggled at this, but fell silent as Surge shot them a nasty look. Steven stepped forwards, putting his hands between them both and trying to stay diplomatic.

"Surge, the girl is right: she was just showing her way of doing things," he said tiredly. "However Alaska, you shouldn't have destroyed gym property. I have a lot of money in my account, so I can easily write out a cheque for however much it'll cost to –,"

"No!" Alaska said firmly, staring indignantly at Steven. "I destroyed it, so I should be the one to pay for it!"

"Alaska, you don't –,"

"Yes I do!" She replied sternly. "Too many people kept offering my family for support after my father got fired and my mother would usually turn them down unless there was no other way. I am not just getting to get you to pay a huge amount of money for something I did when I barely know you!" Alaska turned towards Surge, who had since calmed down and actually looked impressed. "Here's my offer: if I win the battle, as well as getting the TM and badge I don't pay for the bill. But if I lose, than I will give you however much money I can." Steven and Sandy both looked shocked, and Alaska knew it was a huge risk to take, but Surge tipped his head back and roared with laughter.

"You truly are a strong little fighter aren't you?" He boomed. "Challenge accepted!" Alaska nodded, slightly regretting it, having hoped Surge would change his attitude and say it was too much. Instead he pulled out a PokeBall and bounced it in his hands. "However, our battle begins now! You three, sit in the other stands. Clyde, clear up this mess."

"Eww, why do I have to clean up after her?" The computer groaned, but the ground whirred again, several tiles lifting up and tipping, sending the hot glass on them down below the gym. Alaska was stunned by this, but was more shocked as Surge moved back to the opposite side of the area: lights were shining at the corners where the four large towers stood, and Alaska took this as a cue to move backwards, the pitch forming around her.

"Good luck," Sandy said, giving Alaska a brief hug before racing to the stands. Steven simply gave a respectful nod once more while Mitchell did nothing, moving with the older people. Alaska was to surprised to have the gym battle suddenly starting, and quickly moved into her position.

"Darwin, I am going to save you for later, but thanks for your help," she said. Darwin pulled a grumpy face and Alaska knew she would pay for not sending him in first, but couldn't trust him after the last two times he had used him in battle and settled for an old friend.

"This will be a three on three battle, are you ready?" Surge called from across the tiled field. Alaska simply nodded, needing to focus in order to ready herself. She didn't have her usual time before hand to get herself mentally prepared or form a strategy of any sorts, and as Alaska pulled a Great Ball out and held it in the air, she knew she could only cross her fingers and hope for the best, the ball in the gym leader's court for the first time.

**On a small note, The First Warriors, which takes place in Kanto 5 years before this story and ties in heavily with many aspects of this, has begun with the prologue and first chapter online. It is not necessarily key to read it at the moment to understands part of 8ES, but in a few parts the ties will become more evident. **


	43. Chapter 31: ElectricMassCarnage2

**You may know there was some problem with the server that prevented documents from being uploaded. I copied and pasted this chapter into an old document and it severely stuffed it up, and despite taking nearly an hour to space words apart and writing a message about it at the start, I have a feeling my saved changes got ignored. But here is the new and improved document. **

**Chapter Thirty One: Electric=MassCarnage2 **

"VOLTORB, FRONT AND CENTER!"

"Frances, let's just try not to lose!"

The two balls soared through the air, the red light reflecting brightly off the tiles as the Pokemon formed. Frances landed a few metres away from Alaska, looking over and smiling at her trainer, but was than saw the collapsed poles and looked startled, quickly moving towards Alaska for comfort.

"No, no, we need to have a gym battle," Alaska said, unable to get down on one leg but managed a smile. "I know that we only had our other battle a few days ago, but I am trying to prove to the gym leader is a complete douche and I need your help with that as you're the only Pokemon I can count on right now and I know you can do it." Frances nodded, giggling slightly at Alaska insulting Surge and the Paras turned back around. What looked like an enlarged PokeBall waited opposite, and for a moment Alaska thought it was indeed just that. However, two bits of the red opened to reveal angry eyes.

"Voltorb," the Pokemon sparked in a robotic way. Alaska was stunned to see this Pokemon, and looked angrily up at Surge.

"Is this some kind of joke?" She spat, but only got a raised eyebrow in return. "Hello, an exploding Electrode nearly killed me and Sandy the other day? Seems a bit twisted to send it's pre-evolution out!" Surge merely scoffed, staring back angrily at Alaska.

"First of all, this isn't a robot," he snapped, and Voltorb shook his body in agreement, "and secondly, I am not thinking about what recently tried to blow you up when I am trying to think instead of how to defeat you. You need to pull your head out of all this stuff you're involved and focus on the battle in front of you right now, rather than just whinging and expecting me not to use a good Pokemon." Alaska was annoyed at the use of Pokemon but could see that she was possibly just overreacting and merely grunted, knowing it was time to get started.

"Alright you two!" Steven said, stepping forwards and raising his hands. "No more arguing! Let's just focus on the battle ahead of us, alright?"

"Agreed!" Surge boomed. "Voltorb, Charge Beam, go!"

"Duck down and use Leech Life!" Alaska boomed, ready to defeat Surge at all costs. Electricity formed in a ball in front of Voltorb who rolled around to face Frances face on. The ball grew wider and Frances shook with fear, putting her claws over her eyes as the ball exploded, unleashing a powerful beam of electric infused energy. Alaska moved aside as the beam went right over Frances, leaving her unharmed but a little shaken.

"Para!" She said happily, and she fired a lime green needle from her claws. Voltorb hadn't seen it coming and winced as lime balls of energy were extracted from his body and floated through the air towards Frances.

"She may be small, but let's see how that plays in favour now," Surge growled. "Voltorb, Electro Ball!" Alaska was surprised by this order: she had never heard of this move before. Surge noticed her look as Voltorb glowed yellow all over. "You've got to get with the times sweetie if you want to stay ahead!"

"Bullet Seed," Alaska yelled, not bothering to reply. The words had barely left her mouth when Voltorb swerved, a ball of yellow electricity leaving his body and shooting forwards. It moved too quickly for Frances and exploded next to her, sending her spiralling into the air. "Frances!" Alaska gasped, watching as the Paras flew upwards.

"Para Paras Pa!" She yelled, frantically firing the green seeds to the ground in fright. Voltorb tried rolling away, but was unable to prevent the erratic firing of the seeds, and trying to dodge them sent the PokeBall-like creature directly towards another round. Voltorb rolled around in daze, and Alaska realised an once-in-a-lifetime battle opportunity was about to unfold: Frances was falling back to the ground, right next to where Voltorb was rolling to.

"SPIN AND GRAB ONTO IT!" Alaska yelled, the shout making her head throb but not caring. Frances managed to steady herself to see what Alaska meant and pushed herself with her tiny legs and claws, heading directly towards the Electric type. Surge realized what was happening too late, and opened his mouth to order just as Frances landed on top. Voltorb seemed stunned, and Frances equally as shocked as she wrapped her tiny legs around Voltorb and held on tightly.

"VOOOOL!" It wailed, and tried to shake her off.

"Don't shake, blast!" Surge shouted. "Thunderbolt, go!" Alaska had thought that getting on top of Voltorb would be good, but this could probably end a lot worse than she had anticipated.

"GO ALASKA, YOU CAN DO IT!" Sandy shouted. "BEAT HIM LIKE YOU BEAT GIDEON!" Alaska nodded, and than realized Sandy's choice of words: no one else would have got this except them, and knew Sandy was giving her an idea of what to do.

"Hit it with a Metal Claw, as strong as you can!" Alaska shouted. Frances was scared at the Thunderbolt that was about to fry her from below, but being on top allowed her to counteract some of Voltorb's speed and her claws glowed silver at the same time as he glowed yellow. Frances lashed out, smashing her Metal Claw directly into Voltorb's right eye.

"TOOOOORB!" The PokeBall cried, flying backwards and sending the Thunderbolt ricocheting off the tiled walls. Sandy and Mitchell both screamed as they tried to avoid, and Frances flailed forwards as she fell towards the ground. An offshoot of the Thunderbolt exploded near her, causing her to cry and pushing her backwards. Alaska felt bad for her, but was delighted to see Voltorb's outcome: he had become planted into the wall, cracking tiles all around and leaving Surge shocked. Sparks flew out as Voltorb fell out of the hole, rolling forwards with his eyes shut.

"Voltorb is unable to battle," Steven announced. "This leaves Frances the Paras the victor of this round!" Alaska punched in the air in delight, smiling widely across at a stunned looking Surge.

"Well, looks like that wasn't such a great Pokemon after all," she teased, earning her a glare from the gym leader as he brought Voltorb back.

"I wouldn't be celebrating just yet without looking at your own Pokemon," he growled. Alaska was confused and looked across, jaw dropping: Frances was barely able to stand, wincing and seizing up as her body glowed yellow. She had been paralyzed, either from Voltorb's Static or the Thunderbolt, but either way Alaska's challenge was now in serious threat. "Paralysis is definitely not good," Surge added with a beam, "and it certainly won't help you now!" He threw his second PokeBall onto the field, leaving Alaska anxious about lay within: with Frances paralyzed, this battle had just gotten a whole lot harder with little for her to fall back on.

"You can do it Frances! You just defeated a Voltorb, so you can defeat this one too!" Alaska shouted. Frances gave a weak nod in reply, but her nod froze and her eyes bulged as the red energy formed alongside, turning into a much larger opponent than Voltorb. Alaska watched as the Pokemon formed, an orange body with a white belly and a long tail with a lightning bolt on the end. The Pokemon had a fearsome, mischievous look on his face, but his giant body looked cuddly than fearsome.

"Raichu Rai Rai!" Raichu said, flexing his black paws and staring down at Frances, who was a lot smaller than him and stood a high chance of being crushed. The Paras quaked in fear as much as the Paralysis allowed, and Alaska knew she would not last long. However, even if she switched Frances out now, Alaska still had a team she couldn't use in this situation and would be forced to bring the Paras out again later.

"Frances, I want you to hit this Raichu with a Stun Spore!" Alaska called out firmly, and was proud to see Frances nodded and forced her body upwards, staring up towards the Mouse Pokemon and doing her best to look frightening, but the Electric type wasn't frightened.

"Using spores to try and paralyze?" Surge said with a laugh. "Raichu, show her some true attacks with a Thunderbolt!" Raichu nodded and sparks flew from his yellow cheeks, his tail sticking up on end as if the current was flowing through it. Frances was too paralyzed to talk, but she shook her back as much as she could, sending the yellow spores up into the air and Alaska simply hoped it was enough.

"RAAAAAAIIIII!" Raichu suddenly yelled, flashing yellow and firing the bolt of electricity. Sandy gasped dramatically from the stands as Frances was blasted up into the air, soaring around like a plastic bag caught in the wind. Alaska could feel her pain, her head giving a particular throb almost to match it. Frances was silent as she fell down to the tiles but Surge's laughter was enough to make up for this fact, infuriating Alaska but she remained silent until she knew Frances' fate.

However, a second later it was confirmed: Frances landed, slightly smoking, in front of Alaska. The fact she had been knocked out was quite obvious, and Alaska let out a sigh, both in sadness for her and annoyance at her chances of showing Surge up looking extremely unlikely. The bronzed gym leader even began to laugh, flashing his white teeth as he smiled widely across at her.

"Frances the Paras is unconscious, leaving the number of Pokemon as mutual," Steven announced loudly as Alaska glared back and clutched her cane so tightly her veins bulged out. She brought Frances back silently, wondering what chances she had of succeeding: Nadia couldn't be used and Alaska wouldn't have anyway as she hadn't had a chance to train her yet, Paige was at a large disadvantage and Darwin could easily disobey. She was stuck, and it was going to be a rash decision in order to wipe the look off Surge's face: did she risk Darwin disobeying or gamble with Paige?

"GO!" Alaska yelled, throwing a PokeBall forwards and hoping it was the right choice. Surge remained quiet for a moment, leaning forwards to see the outcome, but let out his loudest laugh yet as the red energy formed. Paige looked confused to have formed amongst echoing laughter, but as she landed and took in all the sights it wasn't hard to work out where she was: all yellow, a Raichu in front of her, Sandy watching, Alaska smiling nervously at her. The Pidgeotto looked around to double check, and than turned towards Alaska that practically said 'Are you fucking serious? Ah Electric gym – REALLY?'

"Don't blame me, I have a head injury!" Alaska said indignantly, pointing at her bandaged skull. Paige smiled at this, and Alaska stretched her arms out for the Pidgeotto to fly into before pulling her into a tight hug. "Thank you for all you did in that tunnel, it was amazing."

"Pidgey Pidge Pidgey," Paige said and patted her with her wings. Alaska found the hug reassuring and eliminated most of her worries, but Surge coughed loudly from across the field, breaking them up.

"Can we save the chit chat and huggie time for later?" He growled and than smirked at his own joke. "I know your ill but a Flying type really is an outrageous decision. Raichu, we might as well have some fun with this as this is too easy: Iron Tail, let's go!" Alaska had new found strength in her decision after the hug, and Paige glared over at Surge at his joke and turned back to her, looking determined.

"Glad to see you think he's as big of a dickhead as I do," Alaska said with a smile. "Steel Wing, let's go!" Paige nodded and suddenly took off, her wings glowing silver as she sped towards Raichu. The tail of the Mouse Pokemon glowed entirely silver and he pounded forwards, moving as if rushing after prey through the grass, and leapt up as Paige came nearer. Fortunately for her, Paige was able to swerve around, the long tail missing her by nearly a metre.

"PIDGE!" She shouted, swinging around and smashing her wings into his neck, sending Raichu sprawling back onto the ground. Surge's smile was wiped off his face and Alaska grinned slyly in delight, laughing as Sandy leapt up and began dancing on the spot in celebration.

"Quick Attack while he's down, go!" Alaska called, and Paige nodded, turning around and taking off with a flash. Raichu didn't know what was coming and was hit squarely in the stomach by the speeding Pidgeotto, sending him rolling over once again and infuriating Surge even more.

"Thunderbolt, go!" He roared. Raichu began to glow yellow, but he looked pained and Alaska remained optimistic, glad her risk of using Paige seemed to be paying off now.

"Raaaiii… Chuuu!" Raichu huffed, sending a bolt of electricity into the air. Paige could see it coming and quickly began to dive down, but Alaska gasped as she saw her close companion wasn't fast enough: the Thunderbolt managed to clip her wing, sending Paige squawking and spiralling towards the ground. Alaska was shocked, but mildly recovered as Paige pulled herself up just in time, her left wing appearing limp.

"Are you fine to continue?" She called out, and Paige nodded her head, still looking determined. "Good to hear, now Aerial Ace!" Alaska shouted, annoyed that her dreams continued to get crushed.

"Non missing moves eh?" Surge smirked. "We can play that game too: Shock Wave, go!" Paige took off with her wings glowing, though looked pained as she dived down towards Raichu as he got to his feet. It was clear her attacks were starting to have some effect, but it could only take the Shock Wave to completely eliminate Paige from the rest of the battle.

"Pidgey!" Paige cried, swooping down with her glowing wings and striking Raichu once more: the attack did seem to cause injury, but the Flying type move wasn't as severe and Raichu managed to stay upright.

"CHUUUU!" He cried, a thinner bolt of electricity shooting from his tail. Paige turned to avoid it but the Shock Wave swerved after her, hitting her directly in the chest. Alaska gasped as the Pidgeotto fell to the ground, writhing slightly and looking severely pained. She was shocked to see how much the Electric attacks were working, and despite getting three moves in things were now even between Paige and Raichu: one more hit could easily knock the other out, but it was all a matter of who could move first.

"I knew a Flying type wouldn't last long, no matter how many fancy moves it had," Surge chuckled. "Thunderbolt again!"

"Use Twister!" Alaska cried, wondering if the final move Paige had in her arsenal would be of any use. It was only as Paige pushed herself back into the air that Alaska realized it was better than she expected: Dragon types were resistant towards Electric type moves, so possibly a Dragon attack would protect Paige?

"Ooooooottooooo!" Paige cried, stretching her wings with obvious pain and beginning to spin around. Purple energy began to swirl around her, creating wind within the gym and causing them all to feel the breeze. However, Raichu was glowing yellow and sparking, staring up towards his opponent and managing to move forwards.

"RAAAAIIIIII!" He yelled, firing the Thunderbolt just as the Twister properly formed, creating a giant churning mass of draconian energy that rose up from the tiled floor to the domed ceiling. Alaska and Surge shielded their eyes against the Twister as it arched and shot towards Raichu, striking him in the stomach as the Thunderbolt tore through the air. There was a simultaneous cry from both Pokemon as the attacks hit, the Twister partially glowing yellow and sparking from the Thunderbolt within. Alaska watched as the Twister kept spinning, simply hoping that things would keep working. However, only a moment later things changed: the Twister dramatically exploded, sending a blast of wind and energy through the gym with the Thunderbolt sparking behind. Alaska cried out as she her cane slipped, unable to stand against the wind and found herself tipping over backwards. A shudder went through her body as her back hit the ground, and Alaska groaned as the pain in her head and leg rose up again.

"ALASKA!" Sandy shouted, and it seemed like only a moment later the blonde had appeared above her with a stunned look on her face, ushering for someone to come over. "Are you alright Alaska? I knew you shouldn't have battled! Oh, now you're going to die and it's all so unnecessary!"

"I am fine Sandy," Alaska said, pushing herself up and letting out a moan like someone that wasn't fine. "Just a slight knock on the head, that's all," she added, grabbing the cane and raising a hand to Sandy. Steven and Mitchell had rushed forwards, but Alaska was back on her feet before they arrived, forcing a smile to cover up the exceedingly painful throbbing coming from beneath her bandages.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Steven asked.

"Yes, I'm fine!" Alaska snapped back irritably, despite her head yelling 'I'm not fine really.'

"Very well then," Steven said, looking displeased with being snapped at. "Both Pokemon have fainted as well." Alaska had been focused on her pain and not on the battle and quickly turned back, wondering what had happened to Paige but only to find Steven was correct: the Pidgeotto lay unconscious on the ground, several metres away from a limp looking Raichu. A draw was more than Alaska had expected and she was pleased Raichu was down, but felt bad for Paige and worried as she knew what her only option was now.

"Are we fine to continue?" Surge asked icily. He seemed rather annoyed that his Raichu had fainted at the hands of a Flying type and Alaska took some solace in this.

"Yes yes, we are!" Steven said, moving back towards his spot. Sandy was staring at Alaska with a look that seemed to imply she knew Alaska was covering up an injury, but Alaska merely smiled back and refused to budge.

"Good luck for the last round," Sandy said with a hint of a sigh. "I'll keep cheering for you." Alaska smiled in appreciation before turning back towards the field. She felt rather conflicted about bringing Paige back: Sandy's look made her want to drop out, and most of Alaska's mind was telling her that was the right idea. She could return in a few days when she and her team were feeling better, possibly after training Darwin up to behave and pushing Frances towards evolution.

Continuing the battle was stupid and Alaska knew it, but there was no way she was giving up. Surge was arrogant and wanted her to give up, and Alaska wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of her leaving and than being even more superior when they next returned. And once more, Alaska wanted to keep trying for her journey: after all that had happened over the past few days, she was more determined than ever to defeat the gyms. It seemed unavoidable now that she was involved with all of this drama with Gideon and exploding robots, but if Alaska managed to keep battling the gyms and not let injuries from this unwanted mess stop her, than maybe she could keep trying both.

"Now that we can confirm my lovely opponent has died from a slight fall," Surge said with a sneer, "let us just continue the battle, shall we?"

"We shall," Alaska replied with a smile, the two bringing their Pokemon back at the same time. She switched Paige's PokeBall for Darwin's, pausing slightly before throwing it out: was this really going to be a good idea? Would forfeiting due to her injuries be worse than a last minute failure?

"Electabuzz, go!" Surge yelled. His PokeBall burst on the ground and an almost human Pokemon formed out. The new Electric type had a yellow body with black markings, a long black and yellow striped tail and antennae on the top of his head, which was reasonably wide and had an angry look spread across,.

"ELECAELECAELECA!" The Electabuzz slurred, pounding his thick fists against his chest. Alaska instantly found this Pokemon strange but it gave her the answer she wanted to hear.

"Win this Darwin!" She yelled, sending her Primeape out for the second time that day. It was going to be a big risk on wheter he obeyed or not, but Alaska could see that Darwin might have an issue with this Electabuzz and simply figured that if Darwin defeated him, did it really matter at the moment if he did so by listening to her or not? Alaska knew this wasn't a good attitude to have, but winning meant everything at the moment: she had one shot to defeat Surge and wipe the smile off his face but a million more to properly train her Pokemon.

"Primeape Prime Prime!" Darwin called as he formed before her, flexing his muscles and bouncing up on his feet. Alaska remembered how he seemed annoyed when she brought him back prior to the match, so it seemed was eager to get stuck into the battle.

"Elecaelecabuzzeleceleca!" Electabuzz growled from in front, and Darwin turned to face his opponent. Alaska could only see Electabuzz but the Electric Pokemon looked even grumpier and she could see Darwin raising fists: this was going to be a very interesting fight.

"You monkey may have destroyed my gym, but let's just see how he fears against Electabuzz!" Surge yelled. "Low Kick, go!"

"Fighting moves on a Fighting type? Please!" Alaska scoffed. "Karate Chop, go!" Electabuzz lashed out with one of his legs, swinging it around and preparing to knock the Pig Monkey Pokemon over. However, Darwin suddenly launched himself upwards with a push of his legs, moving him to the side and out of the way of the attack.

"PRIMEEEE!" Darwin cried, swinging a hand into Electabuzz's stomach. Alaska clapped with joy as the wind was knocked out of the Electric type and knew using Darwin would have its benefits. However, the clapping stopped as Darwin swung around again, swinging a Karate Chop towards the back of Electabuzz's head.

"Alaska, control you're Pokemon!" Steven gasped as Electabuzz fell to the ground, clearly pained from the two hit attacks. "There is no rule against Pokemon who disobey their trainers but it is just common courtesy to control it!"

"Yes, I am sorry, I haven't been able to sort this out yet," Alaska apologized, glaring at Darwin as he leered over Electabuzz.

"Maybe you shouldn't be battling then!" Surge snapped. "ThunderPunch!" Alaska was furious at being shamed and was going to let Darwin know it afterwards, but as she readied her attack she gasped: Darwin had grabbed Electabuzz by his tail and was beginning to swing him.

"STOP!" Alaska yelled in shock. Darwin smiled as he continued to spin, taking this as meaning to stop spinning and he let go. The force of the Seismic Toss sent Electabuzz spinning through the air and over the pitch, crashing into the stands on the other side. Darwin punched the air as his opponent crashed through the wood and metal and landed beneath. Alaska wasn't sure how to feel: happy that Surge was getting defeated or shocked at Darwin's behaviour. Sandy, Steven and Mitchell all looked stunned while Surge simply looked angry, and Alaska imagined this was what her mother felt like all the times she had tantrums in the supermarket.

"You want to play rough Acevdeo?" Surge snarled. "We'll play rough! THUNDER!" Darwin heard the order and turned towards Electabuzz, raising his fists and beginning to run forwards to attack. Alaska went to yell out an order but paused as a bright yellow glow erupted from the stands. A second later what looked like three Thunderbolts in one burst through the stands. It was blinding and Alaska could feel her hair below her bandages rising up from the electricity. Sandy yelled as Darwin was blasted into the wall above their heads, the tiles shattering and the lights flickering from the power flowing through the air. The Thunder came to a stop after half a minute, in which the yellow lightning bolt disappeared to show a beaming Surge, Electabuzz now standing outside of the stands and Darwin forced into the wall with his fur standing up.

"That was pretty astounding, wasn't it?" Surge laughed. "ThunderPunch, go!"

"BUZZBUZZBUZZ!" Electabuzz yelled and shot forwards with his right fist glowing yellow. Sandy and Mitchell moved aside with a shout as the Electric Pokemon ran up the stands, just as Darwin rolled out of his tiny crater. Electabuzz swung around, driving the fist into Darwin's face and sending him careering back to the field.

"Please keep the battle on the field!" Steven yelled, nearly getting knocked asides as Electabuzz ran back down. Alaska was shocked to see how strong Surge's Electabuzz could be, and knew that the gym leader was just as willing to do anything to win as she was. She now pitied Darwin though, who lay weakly on the ground, and worried for herself, knowing her battle was nearly lost.

"Come on Electabuzz, let's get this over with," Surge said with a beam. "Let's try Low Kick again, go!" Alaska had no idea what to do, as any order was most likely to get ignored, but she couldn't just let Darwin lay there.

"Karate Chop!" She yelled, hoping he would listen and managed to stand, but it didn't seem likely as Electabuzz lashed out with his leg. The kick managed to strike, hitting Darwin in the legs and rolling him over. Surge and Electabuzz both laughed, and Alaska cursed under her breathe as she knew her battle was lost, but all that changed in one swift movement: Darwin suddenly leapt up, ramming a fist directly into Electabuzz's face.

"Well that's interesting," Mitchell said, his remark sounding as everyone else fell silent: they had all seen Darwin as losing, but suddenly he was up with his eyes glowing red and muscles tense, Electabuzz stumbling backwards. Alaska's jaw had dropped, no idea in her mind what that move was but knowing it was something good.

"ThunderPunch!" Surge yelled once Electabuzz had stopped, bothered that his victory had been held off.

"Keep using that move!" Alaska yelled in delight. She looked across and saw Sandy had quickly sent Bellsprout out, her two person cheering squad dancing on the stands. Things seemed to be changing and Alaska was beginning to feel better, ignoring the terrible pain in her head and watching joy as Darwin reared up. Electabuzz swung the ThunderPunch, striking Darwin in the stomach and though he looked pained, the Primeape remained standing.

"APE!" He boomed and swung two more punches, blasting Electabuzz into the sky and backwards. The attack seemed more powerful than before and Alaska wondered if Darwin had learnt Rage, an attack that got more powerful every time the user got hit. It would explain how he simply took the attacks and they were getting more powerful, with Electabuzz struggling to stand. Alaska looked up and saw Surge seemed to have come to the same conclusion, a grim look on his face. His Pokemon didn't seem to have any moves that weren't attacks, leaving him at a serious disadvantage.

"Your call Surger," Alaska yelled, grinning widely as Darwin puffed out his chest, staring over at Electabuzz. The Primeape looked fairly tired himself, but it would come down to wheter he could withstand Electabuzz's next attack to score another hit.

"Thunder!" He yelled, though his face remained weak and nervous and Alaska knew the attack was a cheap shot: it had a high chance of missing, meaning it would be easy for Darwin to have his Rage weakened.

"Run forwards and punch the bugger!" Alaska yelled, and was stunned as Darwin ran forwards, Electabuzz beginning to glow completely yellow and sparking.

"ELECALECA!" He bellowed, and the powerful bolt was fired forwards. Alaska winced as Darwin took the Thunder full blast, the electricity completely engulfing him and Electabuzz and the surrounding area. Everything was a mystery now, the electricity completely surrounding them and Alaska had no idea what the outcome would be, but knew that one Pokemon was going to faint.

"PRIMEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Darwin suddenly yelled, and Alaska cheered in delight as Electabuzz was blasted upwards. Surge's jaw dropped as the Electric Pokemon smashed into the dome, taking out a pane of glass, before falling back down to earth. The Thunder instantly diminished without its power source and Alaska jumped up as she saw Darwin was kneeling in pain on the ground but still had an eye open. She forgot about her sore leg until it collapsed under her weight and Alaska quickly pushed onto her cane to hold herself up, but ignored the feeling as she was too happy watching Electabuzz smash into the ground next to Surge's feet.

"Electabuzz is unable to battle," Steven announced, trying to hide a smile, "meaning that the challenger Alaska Acevedo and her Primeape Darwin are the winners."

"YEEEEESSSSS!" Sandy screamed, making Mitchell and Bellsprout jolt but she didn't care as she came racing down towards Alaska, flailing her arms in delight. "I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT, I JUST KNEW YOU WOULD! OH MY GOD, THIS IS SO AMA –,"

"Bring the chair," Alaska called out, the pain from jumping beginning to settle in. Sandy gasped as if she had just set something on fire and rushed back, grabbing the wheelchair and pushing it forwards at top speed. "Thank you," Alaska said, collapsing into the seat in relief, "and I am glad you felt proud, though weren't you worried I was going to die?"

"Heat of the moment," Sandy said with a shrug and Alaska laughed, though found herself feeling a lot weaker and more tired now that the exhilaration of the battle was over: her leg and head both throbbed and she wouldn't mind having a proper lie down. However, Alaska managed to hold herself together as Sandy wheeled her towards Darwin, who looked very weak himself.

"You did amazingly," Alaska said with a smile, "great job." Darwin merely nodded, a bit of a grumpy pout on his face. Alaska sighed, too tired to deal with him at the moment, and simply smiled as she brought him back inside his PokeBall. A similar clicking noise sounded to her left and Sandy turned the chair as Surge walked forwards, placing Electabuzz's PokeBall back in his pocket.

"While I am not happy about how this battle went nor about the fact you've escaped paying for the damages, I must admit you wer a very interesting challenge and you have deserved this," Surge said. He pressed one of the many buttons on his remote and a tile slid aside a few places underneath Voltorb's crater: on top was a small metal badge that looked like the sun while the other was a yellow Technical Machine. "It contains Shock Wave: might be pretty useful."

"Thank you," Alaska said, smiling widely as she took the badge and TM. Sandy, Steven, Bellsprout and Surge clapped, and Mitchell reluctantly tapped his hands together behind. Alaska was relieved she had managed to win, but her joy was clouded by the pain throughout her and the knowledge that with Nadia indisposed she needed to heal her Pokemon quickly, another grim reminder of how a challenge she hadn't signed up for was going to hang around no matter what she did, and took all of Alaska's strength to not dampen the mood by crying.

**Electabuzz is meant to speak with his words together, as in an anime episode he sounded sort of like this and it always amused me so I kept it in :P Final of the Vermilion Arc next**


	44. Chapter 32: A Taste of Things to Come

**To those who read the previous chapter before I altered it: the problems that occurred with words being joined together have since been fixed with a fresh document. I apologise that that occurred: it was a combination of being prevented from uploading and than my changes not being saved, but it is all fixed now :) **

**Chapter Thirty Two: A Taste of Things to Come**

Ten minutes later, the group began to leave the Vermilion Gym.

Mitchell's hyperactive and attention seeking instincts caused him to run about fifty metres ahead without noticing that Sandy had only just pushed Alaska in her chair through the sliding doors. His yell for them to hurry up was blown aside by wind blowing in from the sea, and Alaska and Sandy didn't mind pretending they hadn't heard. Steven was lingering behind to discuss something with Surge, and though Alaska's natural curiosity had been heightened during her experiences, she was too tired at the moment to wonder what they were talking about.

"That was a truly amazing battle," Sandy said for about the umpteenth time as they moved after Mitchell, heading towards the Pokemon Center. "Admittedly I didn't see your first one and you still have five more, but that could be your best battle! It had twists, it had surprises, it had new moves and, oh my god, it was just like being on a roller coaster!"

"I am glad you enjoyed it," Alaska laughed, "and I have to agree it was a very twisty battle. I probably wouldn't have defeated Voltorb if you hadn't given me that little reminder."

"Oh, it just seemed like a good idea at the time," Sandy said with a slight scoff, but Alaska looked up and saw she was beaming with pride. Though they hadn't gotten off to the best starts with Sandy nearly crushing her and than them nearly being killed by the BeeBot, Alaska found Sandy was growing on her. It was clear that she was in need of a friend and companion as well, and the two got along well despite their differences and Alaska being easily annoyed when she felt like it.

However, it simply made Alaska regret the fact Sandy was now involved with her drama as well: the blonde, happy go lucky girl had nearly been killed by the reality shows stupidity, nearly crushed by the GolemBot, nearly blown up by the ElecBot and had her brain switched with her Butterfree's, all since travelling with her. If Alaska had been sensible she would have pushed Sandy away after Mt Moon, but part of her (the part that had seen too many thrillers and spy movies) knew that Sandy would end up getting involved somehow, whether their paths crossed again or Gideon found a way to use her against her. But now Sandy was right in the thick of it, and all Alaska knew about what she decided upon was that she was not going to let her only human friend in years get in harm's way.

Yet Sandy was oblivious to Alaska's dark thoughts as she pushed the wheelchair along the street, humming a little song to herself and managing to brighten Alaska's day up. The sun was lower now, signalling it was the afternoon, and longer shadows were being cast around the city. All of Vermilion felt sleepy, and Alaska was tempted to snooze off right in her chair, so tired and knowing they wouldn't mind.

"Wait up!" A voice cried, and a second later Steven appeared alongside, clutching his chest and panting. "Boy, if I knew you were going to get so far ahead I wouldn't have stayed chatting! I thought Alaska was a big old lump."

"Maybe you're just a weak old man," Alaska retorted as Sandy began to laugh.

"Fair enough," Steven laughed. "It has been a few years since I went on an adventure myself, so I guess my health is not exactly at its prime at the moment. Still, once we get to the Pokemon Center we might be able to relax. Than once your Pokemon are sorted Alaska we need to take you to the hospital."

"What?" Alaska scoffed. "Do I have to go back?"

"I was only taking you out for the day," Steven pointed out as he regained his breath. "They still need to check on you and if you aren't fit to leave than you aren't fit to leave! I saw the way you fell and than jumped on your leg: this could have impaired your recovery!" Alaska was frustrated at the idea of going back to her bland hospital room, but she was too tired to bother arguing and merely put on a sulky face, but stopped when she saw Mitchell was pulling a near identical one as he waited impatiently near the Pokemon Center.

"What were you and Surge talking about?" Sandy asked in an attempt to break the tension.

"Oh, nothing much," Steven said with a slight shrug. "I enjoy keeping up with all the latest news from the leagues for old time's sake, so I was just seeing how his gym was doing." Sandy nodded along and asked some questions about being Champion, but Alaska was beginning to zone out. She wondered if Steven was telling the truth as she had the feeling he was there for more than he was letting on, but also wondered if the hospital was going to serve some nice food as Alaska was really starting to get hungry as well as tired, and these things weren't a good mix…

_It isn't safe – hide._

"Who said that?" Alaska said, shooting up in her chair and glancing around.  
"Who said what?" Sandy asked, sounding puzzled, as they finally came to a stop outside the Pokemon Center. Alaska looked around, certain she had heard something, but there were only a small group of people on their lane heading to the fishing store and people walking individually or in pairs at the end of the lane. None of them seemed to be looking at her or appeared to have Psychic powers, and as Alaska settled back into her chair she began to recognize the voice: it was the same one that had been in her dream.

"N-nothing," Alaska stuttered, wondering who the voice belonged to. "I must just be imagining things – head wound, of course." She began to laugh but saw Sandy and Steven looked rather grim and decided not to push things.

"Well, now that Alaska has stopped being crazy, can we go see the boats?" Mitchell asked with the eager face of a boy his age. "I saw a really pretty boat in the harbour and I want to go and look!"

"Mitchell, I am not sure," Steven said with a warm smile, but Mitchell's eagerness turned to an angry pout and a glare that Alaska knew from her babysitting days that he was close to a tantrum.

"Let's just go look," she said tiredly. Mitchell took this for an immediate answer and ran ahead, moving clumsily but happily. Steven sighed and laughed slightly before moving ahead, Sandy quickly following behind with Alaska in the chair. Alaska didn't feel like talking and it seemed her hearing things had put the others on edge, so the three remained silent as they joined Mitchell at the end of Pokemon Lane.

The city was a bit busier out here, with the people in suits Alaska had seen going for lunch now making their way home for the day. There were a lot more younger people out around the cafes and shops, and other people were just generally hanging around and either making their way home or going out, Alaska couldn't tell. Sandy wheeled Alaska around to face the harbour, revealing a streamlined white ferry moving through the waters, the sun reflecting off in it a way that made it look on fire. The large container ship that was coming in before the gym battle was now docked, the cranes hastily unloading the different coloured containers so they could be moved to one of their areas where the containers formed a gigantic wall of goods.

"Isn't this all so cool?" Mitchell said, pointing eagerly. Alaska and the others nodded along, watching as the ferry disappeared behind the container ship, simply enjoying it for his sake. Alaska wondered if she would be like him if she wasn't sitting in the wheelchair with an injured head and bung knee: she had never seen anything so large and busy in her life before, and wondered if a happier Alaska would have marvelled at the skyscrapers and the giant boats. It seemed like the normal travellers thing to do, but Alaska simply didn't have the heart, far too tired at the moment to care what really happened.

_I said it wasn't safe – you must move, now!_

"What isn't safe?" Alaska said aloud, looking around once more. Sandy, Steven and Mitchell turned towards her curiously and several passers-by's turned as well, a group of teenage girls stopping and whispering obviously to each other.

"Alaska what are you on about?" Steven asked, looking concerned.

"I-I-I keep hearing this-this voice," Alaska explained, wondering if this was some sort of sign. "It appeared in my dream last night, and now it's just told me things aren't safe and I need to move. Steven, I think this is serious!" Alaska looked at the ex-champion with an honest, serious look, but the grey haired man stared down at her in a pitying way.

"Alaska, you have suffered a head injury," he said as more people looked around, wondering what she was going on about. Alaska hated having them all stare at her like a crazy person and she looked around, heart and head racing, wondering what was going on.

"I am serious Steven, something is about to –,"

And than the container ship exploded.

Screams sounded all around as people instinctively jumped for cover, including Mitchell, but Alaska's eyes fixed towards the sight ahead, wondering what was happening. There was an orange fist rising into the air, but it was clear it hadn't come from the top of the ship: this explosion had erupted from deep within the centre of the ship, effectively tearing it in two. Sandy began to scream as well as the orange turned to grey but the damage became more clear: one of the cranes was already tumbling down like a broken toy whilst the one next to it looked as if a slight breeze would cause it to crash down as well. The explosion was so sudden that it had shaken throughout the city, drawing all their attention towards it. Alaska wondered what happened to the ferry that had sped past only moments before the explosion, and she grasped the sides and tried pushing herself up.

"No Alaska, stay down!" Sandy yelled hysterically, forcing her friend back into the chair.

"NO!" Alaska yelled back, staring towards the site. "Something is happening, we need to move!"

"Yes Alaska, but stay in your chair, I'll move –," Sandy began to say, but was cut off as another explosion occurred before their eyes. This time the bottom most right container in the giant wall of metal had exploded, setting off a shockwave: one by one the containers erupted into flames, the top ones began to collapse down into the continuous burst of fire around them. More screams sounded and people began to run up the main road away from the yard, looking distressed.

"VERMILION IS UNDER ATTACK!" A voice suddenly shouted and Alaska turned as Surge ran up the lane, holding a megaphone to his mouth and joined by a series of Pokemon: his Raichu and Electabuzz had been joined by several Pikachu, Elekid and what looked like a furry yellow Ariados racing up behind. "MOVE TO SAFETY, NOW!" The presence of the gym leader seemed to set residents into action and suddenly Alaska was beginning confused as blurred figures rushed past in all directions. Surge ran up to them with his army of Pokemon, his usual nature turning to concern as this crisis erupted around them, the sounds of more explosions coming from the docks.

"I am going to get down there and see what the fuck is going on," he told Steven. "You stay and help, but you better get those three inside."

"Of course. Good luck," Steven said, pulling PokeBalls from his own pocket as Surge began to head down the road. Mitchell hurried towards them with tears streaming down his face, and Steven pushed him gently towards Sandy, beginning to turn towards them but suddenly freezing, his eyes bulging. "SURGE, COME BACK!" He yelled. "Sandy, move them, NOW!"

"What is it?" Mitchell cried as Sandy wheeled Alaska around and grabbed his hand. Alaska turned around to try and see as Steven dropped PokeBalls onto the ground, the first one forming being the four legged metal beast Metagross. Surge was shouting and pointing into the sky, and more people seemed to be running past. Alaska's head hurt as if a million robots were marching against her brain, causing her to feel disorientated and making her vision blur. It took a while, but she soon saw what was in the sky: it was what had to be a Pokemon, but it wasn't one Alaska knew. It had a body made of swirling purple and black, though the swirling could have just been her imagination. Its body didn't seem to directly join together, more like bits hovering near each other. But the one thing that stood out to Alaska was its eyes: it had dark red eyes that were visible even from the distance between them. Alaska had no idea who the Pokemon was, but it was enough to strike fear into both Steven and Surge's hearts and she could see why.

"What is that Pokemon?" Alaska asked, trying to stare at it but found her vision blurring as Sandy pushed the chair forwards.

"I don't know Alaska, but we can find out later," Sandy said, her voice cracking slightly, and Alaska wondered if she was crying. She decided not to ask any more questions, mainly though as her head seemed to throb more and more, and Alaska would have remained silent and gone to the Pokemon Center if a building didn't explode behind them.

Sandy screamed and jumped to the ground, pulling Mitchell down with her. Alaska had no choice but the cover her head and duck down as the explosion seemed to literally shake the city, but at the same time she turned and tried to catch a glimpse. It seemed that an apartment building had suddenly exploded, flames coming out from a jagged hole in the side. More screams echoed around, joined by the sounds of ambulance sirens and moves being unleashed by Pokemon. Alaska could see multiple Electric attacks being fired into the sky, but the mysterious Pokemon swerved out of the way, white energy forming at the end of his arms.

Silently, the Pokemon fired a second Hyper Beam at another building. This time Alaska watched as it struck the building and exploded upon impact, instantly destroying every window and sending bricks soaring into the air. The white energy turned to flames a moment later, joining the mass of smoke and fire curling up into the sky. This Pokemon was ruthless, but Alaska knew one thing about Pokemon: few Pokemon became evil in the wild; they needed a trainer to them bad, simply meaning someone was behind this.

"Let's move, quickly!" Sandy yelled from near Alaska's feet. She put a hand at the back of the chair and gave it a mighty shove towards the Pokemon Center before leaping up and dragging Mitchell, trying to race after. "Let's just get inside and find a place to hide," Sandy said, near hysterical. "Once we're inside, we can put everything out of the – AAAAHHHH!" Sandy screamed and came to a stop, nearly tipping the chair backwards as she grabbed onto it. Alaska would have complained about nearly falling over, but her eyes focused on the giant blue blur that had suddenly shot past them. Alaska thought it might have just been part of her imagination, but as the blur rounded the corner and everyone around them froze to stare it at, she knew it was real: crested head, long purple cape, white tails, white diamonds on a blue body.

Suicune had just arrived.

The appearance of a legendary Pokemon was so stunning and surprising that everyone seemed to forget they were running for their lives, but a third explosion snapped people out of it. Mitchell was staring at Suicune as if he was a giant piece of candy, but Sandy pulled herself together and began pushing the two forwards once more. Alaska wondered why Suicune was here and if it could get any weirder, only for her question to instantly get answered.

"ZAAAAAAA!" All eyes turned to the skies this time, and the legendary Electric type Zapdos made a much more grand entrance: its giant yellow and black wings shot electricity across the skyline as the bird dived down towards the scene. There was another blur and Alaska turned to see Suicune had disappeared, leaving Zapdos to fight the mysterious Pokemon. The purple and black destroyer had turned around at the sound and sight of the legendary, white energy instantly forming again.

"DOOOOOOOOSSSS!" Zapdos screeched, flashing yellow and firing what looked like a super charged Thunder towards the Hyper Beam. The two attacks suddenly collided, and the resulting explosion was enough to set the stampede and screams off once more: a shockwave seemed to engulf the skyline, windows shattering all along the main road and a display of lights that would have been pretty in other circumstances erupted above them.

"What about Steven and Lt. Surge?" Mitchell yelled as people rushed past them, heading towards any of the buildings around them and not really caring where they ended up.

"He'll be fine, he has powerful Pokemon to protect him," Sandy said, pushing them off again.

"Shouldn't we have our Pokemon protecting us?" Mitchell asked, fetching his PokeBalls.

"Mitchell, just SHUT UP!" Alaska snapped, clutching her throbbing head. "This situation is horrible enough without you whiny like the irritating little vermin that you are!"

"Alaska!" Sandy gasped just as Mitchell burst into tears. Despite running for their lives, several people turned around in shock at the scene before them: an apparently disabled girl turning a younger boy to tears, with an equally as young person looking after them. It didn't look good but Alaska didn't care, half tempted to roll herself to the Center, ready to simply fall asleep and get over with it.

"If you aren't going to apologize we'll just have to move," Sandy said, grasping Mitchell tightly and pushing Alaska forwards. However, Mitchell continued to cry and perform and stood still, forcing Sandy to try and pull him forwards. "Mitchell now isn't the time to act up! Do you want to be here when that Pokemon starts bombing the lane!"

"Alaska is such a Miltank, she doesn't deserve to get all that focus the gym people are giving her!" Mitchell shouted tearfully as another explosion rocked the ground behind them, and Sandy gasped as the young boy pushed the chair forwards. Alaska quickly tried to find the brakes, but she had rolled forwards several metres before managing to stop. Sandy remained behind trying to tell Mitchell off, leaving Alaska stuck in front of them. She didn't care though as Mitchell's words sounded inside her throbbing head: what did he mean by all the attention the 'gym people' were giving her? Alaska looked back towards them, wondering what to do, when she noticed something above them.

"LOOK OUT!" She screamed. Sandy and Mitchell turned to the sky and yelled as well: Zapdos was crash landing towards them, flapping her wings to keep afloat but now closer as the mysterious Pokemon chased after. Alaska caught Steven running around the corner with his Metagross and noticed out of the corner of her eye Sandy pulling something out of her pockets, but it all seemed too late as three balls of electricity, ice and fire formed by the mysterious Pokemon.

"NOOOOO!" Alaska screamed, but it was worthless: three beams were fired towards Zapdos' Thunder, and instantly they collided. It took a single second for them to come together before they suddenly exploded. The shockwave was powerful, enough to blast Alaska out of her chair. She yelled as she rolled painfully along the ground, glaring white light completely engulfing her. Screams that sounded like Sandy's joined screeches coming from Zapdos, but Alaska couldn't see anything. The ground seemed to rumble and Alaska could feel it crack, the sound of another beam being fired joining the noise and unleashing another shock wave. It was all too painful and confusing, with the sounds of roars and glass shattering joining the fray. Alaska's head felt like it was about to explode and she had to clutch it, trying to block out all of the noise and the pain, needing to do something to try and save herself.

_I did try to warn you. _

As soon as the words washed over her, Alaska suddenly felt calm. She opened her eyes to find that all she could see was still white from the explosion, but no longer could the sounds reach her or could see feel the rumbling beneath her body. The pain in her head remained though, and Alaska wondered if she had had an aneurysm and died, joining the mysterious voice in some sort of afterlife.

"Who are you?" Alaska asked, trying to turn but finding hands pressing into her back.

_You don't need to know that at the moment,_ the voice told her. _In time, yes, but I don't want to confuse you at the moment. I am here to help you, not make things worse for you. _

"What do you mean?" Alaska asked, struggling to concentrate as the pain erupted throughout her brain. "You gave me that message in my dream, didn't you? Who was that other person you mentioned, and why do I need to stop travelling?

_You must stop because ultimately you will be used by the people that claim are there to help you, _the voice said urgently. _You will find more allies along your quest but the longer you keep travelling the longer the league will try and use you to fight this battle for them, and this will only get more dangerous. Neil Bolton came close to killing you yesterday and if it hadn't been for a door you wouldn't be here right now. Gideon is willing to kill innocent people simply to get what he wants, and if you get in his way he will most likely kill your friends, your Pokemon and your family before you before finally taking your own life. You are not safe the more you co-operate with the league and the more you cross paths with your enemies, and yes, that includes the reality stars. I am here to help you Alaska Acevedo, you must know this._

"Why should I believe you?" Alaska snapped, the pain becoming so unbearable she could barely speak. "You could be working for Gideon or that Neil person!" A hand suddenly appeared alongside, and Alaska was able to notice it was oval shaped, blue on the top and grey and striped on the bottom, with three sharp claws.

_Would an enemy do this? _The voice whispered and suddenly moved towards her head. Alaska's brain felt like it was about to blow and she screamed as the hand touched her, forcing her to shut her eyes and writhe her body as a sensation swept through her body. She couldn't think about anything except the pain and simply screamed, unable to do anything else.

"ALASKA! ALASKA!"

The sensation suddenly left and Alaska landed on the ground, instantly feeling it jagged beneath her. She breathed deeply as she opened her eyes, seeing the cracked ground beneath her and feeling nothing against her skin. Alaska's hands reached up towards her skull as footsteps appeared alongside, instinctively looking up as Sandy appeared. Her Onix had stretched up high above her, leaving Alaska confused as to what was going on.

"Oh thank god!" Sandy wailed with teary eyes, pulling Alaska up into a hug and providing her with a view over her shoulder: the ground in front of them had collapsed into the sewers, giving off a smell of damp and general disgust. Bricks and concrete were scattered all around alongside glass and what looked like several people knocked out or killed, Alaska couldn't tell. She looked around for any sight of the mysterious Pokemon but it was nowhere to be seen, but she could clearly see Zapdos flying into the distance. Onix's tail stood near a shaken Mitchell, the rest of his body stretching across the hole towards Steven, Surge and their various Pokemon.

"I can't believe this happened, but we are all safe and alive and that's what truly matters!" Sandy said tearfully, but Alaska meekly nodded, touching her hand to her bandages. There should have been some sort of wound underneath, but it all felt smooth to Alaska, and she was so shocked that the pain in her brain had disappeared she could barely speak. All she could think of as she watched the floors of a building collapse onto the main road was that the mysterious Pokemon was there to help her, meaning that his words had some truth to them. If he was right, than Alaska knew that Sandy's words were wrong: they definitely weren't safe, and how much longer could they stay alive?

**This has been a very long arc, hasn't it? :P Blog and Interlude combo next, and expect light to be shed ;) **


	45. Blog 7: The Bright Side of Life

**Blog Seven: The Bright Side of Life**

Good evening loyal readers – what an interesting two days it's been since we last spoke. How have you been? Is that cold getting better? Did you watch the latest episode of 'The Real Housewives of Castelia City'? Did you do well on that maths test? You failed? That sucks. Well, I nearly got blown up twice, so ha ha, I win.

Yes, once again my dearest cyber friends that I've never met, I got involved in several bombings these past few days. But, you know me, I don't like looking on the _negative _side of things, it's just so… well, negative! So for today's blog, I thought I would look on the positive side of what's happened.

1) I met a lovely Nidoran on my way to Saffron who I decided to catch, and she was already named Nadia (this is a female Nidoran; after all, as Nadia is a boys name – I once knew a boy called Nadia, but I think was foreign. I mean, when has anyone from Kanto worn colourful suspenders for the fun of it?)

2) I met a lovely couple called Andy and Judy that run a breeding center. You should go and visit them as they gave me Nadia and Sandy a lovely egg that is apparently a Pichu. (Here's a brain tingler for you: what do you think hurts more, laying an egg or pushing a baby out of your HELLOOO SAILORS! ? )

3) The Underground Tunnel has a lovely chance to redecorate. I mean seriously: limited lightning, a dull colour scheme, a perfect hotspot for perverts and even more robots. Where's Queer Eye for the Straight Tunnel when you need them?

4) I finally have an awesome scar to actually prove I've got involved in all of these things. You see, this Electrode Bot exploded after Sandy and the Pokemon saved my ass (no thanks to that weird gun Bill gave me – FLARES, REALLY?), along with that mysterious shadowed man, and I got the full brunt of it and suffered a severe head wound. Ain't that just bitching yo? (Head injury = excuse for talking gangsta)

5) I got to meet ex Hoenn Champion Steven Stone! I didn't get autographs for you guys though… Hmmm, I wonder if auctioning off prizes would get me more viewers?

6) I had some hot chips. They were pretty choice, but if it wasn't for Steven revealing Bill suspected something about the blue lightning I would have finished them all.

Oh yes, I had a weird dream as well! It had blue flashing lighting and creepy silhouettes talking to me, just like a rave! Technically, this should be Number 7…

8)(Technically) Vermilion has a nice view, unless you dislike the colour blue, than I recommend you don't go there

9) I got to take part in my third gym battle. Probably not that great as Lt Surge (Lt of what, I ask? – being a douchebag? Having nice muscles? Being a douchebag?) was a bit of a dick – or a douchebag, call him what you want! But yes, I got to battle my ass off, which involved destroying his little mind game, using Paige to defeat Raichu (B-B-B-BOOO YAH!) and Darwin learning a new move, even though he continued to disobey me.

10) I got to see Zapdos and Suicune! ZOMG GUYS, I AM LIKE TOTES SERIOUS! Cause all these buildings totally began getting blown up and the entire dockyard got torn a new one, so these guys came swooping in and were all like "ZAP!" and this weird Pokemon was all like "BEAM!" and then their attacks were all like "BOOM!" Sandy, Mitchell and I nearly got killed, which is always fun, but than that thing from my dream appeared and protected me and then told me that everyone I know will be killed before me I keep trying to succeed my dreams. Than he healed my wound, leaving the scar, and everything went back to normal.

11) I got to get pushed around in a chair all day…. Which is nice.

So yes, that has been my past few days Let's see you try and top that one then…

In all seriousness, my dear readers, I am not in a good place. I have basically been told that if I continue to try and achieve my dreams, I am going to get killed, yet if I achieve them, I am only going to be disappointed. Steven told me that last part, and I am not sure if he was making this up or not, but I must admit is there on my thoughts: do I really want to work for the people who seem to be trying to control my life? Mitchell had a little tanty during the attack on Vermilion and revealed that all the gym leaders seem to be giving me attention, so I have a feeling they are watching me more than I would like.

And then there is good ol' Gideon: he blew up half of Vermilion and the majority of Chrono Island, and I only have a small idea as to what he may he be doing. I don't really know why he blew these things up, but he is a mad scientist after all, so surely he'll have some mad reason for doing so. But, quite frankly, I don't want to go after him. I don't see why I have to be the one to take him down: I only started my journey a few fricking weeks ago and now I am supposed to stop some terrorist? That is so nice of the gym leaders and elite people to put this on me – I should send them all a Christmas card.

But I mean really: I've got blue lightning zapping all around, some Pokemon giving me cryptic advice and headaches, a shadowed man following me around who I am not even sure if he is still alive or not, a bunch of robots following me like some electrical perverts, and I'm trying to work out what the gym leaders all want from me. Add that to a Paras that is still too afraid in battle, a Primeape that won't listen to me and even Nadia seems to have some seemingly aggressive tendencies as well. I am a trainer, not Jack Bauer, James Bond and G.I. Jane rolled into one! (Why all the J names I wonder? Jalaska should be my gangsta superhero name) I've got more problems than a Maths book with my Pokemon and I don't need to have all these mother fucking mysteries dumped on me by some wizened old dicks with wizened old dicks who can't fight this battle for themselves!

Before I go, here are some final questions for you?

1) Eggs or the good ol' birth canal? Thoughts?

2) What is Surge the Lieutenant of?  
3) Who do you think is sending robots after me?

4) That mysterious man from the Beedrill's Nest: who do you think he is and is he still alive?

5) Any thoughts on how to deal with any of my Pokemon's problems?

6) Do Suicune and Zapdos still belong to Red? If so, why do you think they were in Vermilion?

If any of you have relatives who died in either the nuclear bombing or destruction of Vermilion, I am sorry for your loss. I still have no idea what to do, but it keeps feeling as if no matter what I do, I am going to have this war forced upon me. *sighs dramatically* As soon as the doctor clears me to leave, I am getting down to Fuchsia and as far away from all of this as I can, and hopefully not find some more mysteries along the way.

But, for the time being, I am going to focus on my training: I have completed my third step towards completing my goal, and I am making sure that, no matter what, I complete the final five.

Until next time,

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Alaska A. 

**Before you start going "Ooooh, she's going to Fuchsia instead!", she's not ;) But you won't find out where she is actually going for a little while...**


	46. Interlude 6: Remnants of a War Zone

**Interlude Six: Within the Remnants of a War Zone**

The sun set at the tip of the horizon, leaving a distinct orange glow hovering over the very top of the water. Vermilion City was surrounded by water and the sun continued to reflect all around the sparkling surface, the last light of the sun seeming like a reminder of the explosions that had occurred, and almost perfectly reflecting the fires that were about to be put out.

Steven Stone stood at the very edge of the harbour, staring towards the scene in front of him. It was heart wrenching staring around the blackened and broken concrete, watching as fire fighters and their army of Water types moved around, putting out any remaining blazes, but most were beginning to pull away the wreckage, trying to find answers. In the very middle was a twisted pile of melted and broken metal, only a few hours ago a wall of colourful containers, full with goods and ready to be shipped out. Now it was only a metre taller than Steven, the bow of the container ship visible above it. The other half had fully submerged alongside the ferry, which suffered a hole to the hull from flying metal, but the bow remained above as there didn't seem to be any room left in the water. The second crane had ended up collapsing, knocking half of the remaining one down with it, and the fire fighters were trying to secure it before it crushed the workers below.

Steven couldn't even bear to think about what was behind him, finding the destroyed ships and metal more reassuring than the ruined city behind. Three apartment buildings had collapsed, killing hundreds and severely damaging the surrounding buildings and the streets below. Hundreds more had died from explosions in other buildings, but they thankfully remained. Many more people had been injured from falling and flying debris, and patients were being transferred to other medical centres in Celadon, Fuchsia, the Sevii Islands and Johto to make room for those injured.

However, in his many years on this planet, Steven had seen this all happen before: as the wars and battles built up, the more lives got lost and the more wreckage was left behind. He had lost count of how many events he had seen, but after Sinnoh Steven had hoped this period of peace would continue for many years to come. Yet here he was, watching as containers that hadn't been destroyed had the burnt remnants of their cousins heaved inside to be taken away, whilst floating cranes moved out towards the sunken vessels. It was a harrowing sight as it always was, and Steven could only wonder how much more of this would occur before Gideon or Buzz got their ways.

There was a muffled roar high above, and Steven only glanced up briefly to confirm it was who he had been suspecting before turning back to the sight. A moment later, a large Charizard landed with a thump in front of him, sending dirt and wreckage into the air as he flapped his wings. Steven shielded his eyes, but managed to see Red as he slid expertly down from the Fire types back.

"Thanks for that," Red said, pulling a PokeBall out. Charizard nodded, but Red paused, slipping the PokeBall away. "On second thought, can you go and see if there is anything you could do to help?"

"Zard," Charizard roared and pushed himself back into the sky, but remained lower and moved towards some fire fighters.

"Obedient Pokemon," Steven said with a nod. "I sent Metagross to help clear away some rubble to see if there was anyone trapped below. There isn't much I can do personally: I don't have the strength of my youth."

"You could come with me to the hospital later," Red said, moving alongside and staring off into the distance. "An ex-Champion would definitely help with morale."

"Possibly, but I think the current Champion would get more of the attention," Steven said with a slight smile before following his gaze. It felt weird standing alongside the young man and speaking those words: it was getting to a time where the older generation was going to have to step aside and let the new breed take over properly. Steven could already see Daisy Oak replacing her grandfather and wondered who would be replacing him in a few years time. The thought of leaving his life behind and retiring seemed depressing to Steven, but he had bigger fish to worry about.

"Surge agrees about the girl," Steven said. "He said she has character and strategy, but is too rash and doesn't have complete control over her Pokemon just yet. He thinks she has the potential to stop Gideon, but it would take some serious training to get her up to scratch. And it doesn't help that doesn't want anything to do with it."

"Misty and Brock agree?" Red asked.

"Indeed," Steven replied with a nod, but suddenly let out a sigh. "I am wondering if this is the right thing to do. If Alaska is unwilling to get involved, how can we trust her to act the way we want her to when the situation arises?" Red sighed as well, nodding along with his older counterpart.

"I feel the same way, but the league thinks it is best," he added. "They know sending me, Leaf or anyone else I know is a risk that we can't afford to take, and Alaska has gotten herself involved, so they've decided she can just… well, stay involved. I don't think it is right, but from what I gathered about Gideon during the times we met is that he will stop at nothing to achieve his goals and tie up all loose ends as long as it benefits him, and I think fighting Alaska is something he wants to get involved with." Steven let out a longer sigh and nodded, knowing Red was right but not happy with it.

"But how much longer can we allow her to go without proper guidance or leadership?" The old man said. "I don't think she knew that it was a Porygon-Z blowing up the town today, and none of us know what Gideon has planned next. How are we supposed to keep an eye on her?" Steven looked to Red for his answer but was stunned to see the Champion was smiling.

"Don't worry Steven," he said, beginning to walk off, "I've found a way to keep an eye on her." Steven was stunned, but suddenly the pieces clicked together in his mind: of course Zapdos and Suicune's appearances hadn't been a lucky coincidence. Steven would have laughed it hadn't been the wrong situation, and instead found himself staring once again at the scarred landscape in front of her: no matter whether he liked it or not, the battle was being put on Alaska's shoulders. As he walked off to join Red once more, Steven simply hoped she was ready.

* * *

High above the dockyard, Latios stared down at the damaged city.

He stared down at the harrowing site below, feeling torn and disappointed in himself: the Eon Pokemon had felt a disturbance throughout the city and should have acted faster, possibly being able to prevent the explosions from happening and Porygon-Z's subsequent attack. Latios should have tried to protect the city once it began, but he had a duty to Alaska he had to stick to.

Latios found it funny how he had this duty due to Steven standing far below, but as he invaded their minds and listening to the conversation, the Psychic Dragon found that it was the ex-Champion who was playing a role in attempting to stop Alaska. Latios could only wonder how things may have worked out if he had answered his call earlier: in the week since leaving the Dragon's Den, the Eon Pokemon had visited the path Alaska had already gone across, and had even been able to fix the brain-switch problem that had arisen. The powerful use of his Psychic abilities had drained him, only allowing Latios to move against the previous night and causing a major disruption in his plans.

The day had not gone well for Latios: he was worried about Alaska and what she would make of his warnings, and already felt drained from connecting himself to her in order to heal the wound. The Eon Pokemon felt tired even though he wasn't meant to be, but he knew he had to keep going: there was no time to stop.

A breeze suddenly rose up from behind him, and Latios was puzzled: the wind had been coming from the sea a moment before, after all. It took only a few seconds to wonder what it could be, and Latios smiled as purple energy began to form in his striped grey palm.

_It must be very difficult to be subtle, Suicune, when the wind changes with your movements, _Latios thought, before turning around. The trees and bushes behind him rattled and he clapped his hands together, unleashing a Dragon Pulse that spread across the field of grass around him. There was a shout and a bang, and Latios smiled as Suicune and Zapdos emerged from the foliage, looking fairly irritated.

_I am not going to fight you, _Latios said, putting his hands down. _I only did that as a warning. I have my own mission to deal with and I don't need Red's servants trying to get in my way._

"Cune Sui Suicune Cune Cune Sui," Suicune said, staring angrily at Latios.

_I have my own mission, I am not going to help you with yours! _Latios said firmly.

"Zaaaap Dooos Zapdooos!" Zapdos called, and Latios foully turned around, not wishing to face them anymore.

_You can watch Alaska if you wish, but I would rather she left this mission before she ends up dead because your league wants her to fight for them! _Latios growled. _Do not expect me to join in protecting her until she nears her death sentence: I will stop this quest if it is the last thing I do! _Latios began to float into the sky, seeing the conversation as being over.

"Suicune Cune!" Suicune called. Latios suddenly came to a halt, stunned by what the Aurora Pokemon had said. Against his better judgement, the Eon Pokemon turned around to face the Water beast.

_My sister? What of her? _Latios asked, wondering if the power was slipping back to them, but he had not seen Latias for so many years.

"Cune Suicune Sui Cune Cune," Suicune explained.

"Dooooos Doooos Zaaaap Doooos," Zapdos added, and Latios was stunned: his sister had been captured four years ago? How had he not properly sensed this… or was this the feeing Latios had had some time ago? It was difficult to tell the time when inside a rock, but, thinking back, there had been a time when he had experienced discomfort. Latios could see his fellow legendaries seemed happy, but he wiped the smiles of their faces with a burst of blue lightning from the sky, blasting a bush apart.

_I will go and see if what you say is true, _Latios said, pleased that they had been stunned but not pleased at upsetting them. _Than I will get back to my journey once I have this nagging pain at my heart settled. _Latios tucked his arms and legs together and spread out his wings, and within a flash he was off into the air. He knew it was a foolish idea to leave his plan at the moment, but he needed to see where his sister was, possibly her love helping to make his own strength grow stronger. It shouldn't take long, especially with his speed, and within seconds Latios was flying over Saffron City.

The Johto League Champion was about to get a visit.

**Sorry if the part was a bit iffy, but I was more answering some long standing questions within this part, so sorry if it sucked writing wise :P That is the last of 8ES for a few weeks as I work on a new Galactic, but it will be back next month! Feel free to check out The GalacticVerse community to see other stories that will be involved as in the next few arcs a lot of these old stories are going to play huge roles. **


	47. Chapter 33: Oh the Analogies!

**Eight Easy Steps has returned for another batch! Hopefully the wait hasnt been too long and the short breaks won't be too long either before the next Galactic! A new arc has begun, so let us rejoin Alaska and Sandy. **

**Chapter Thirty Three: Oh the Analogies **

"You know what Alaska: I find this situation a wee bit ironic!"

"What situation?" Alaska replied in a bored tone, not knowing what would come of this.

"Well, just the other day you were complaining about how I was walking too slowly and told me to catch up, but now _you're the_ one lagging behind and _I _am the one in the lead!" Sandy seemed pretty pleased at herself and found this rather funny. However, Alaska came to a halt and glared towards her: if it hadn't been dark, Sandy would have received one of the ugliest and angriest looks she had ever received, but instead she simply stopped and tried to see why Alaska wasn't moving.

"Sandy, are you forgetting about my leg?" Alaska said bitterly, wincing as she raised her cane up and dangled in for Sandy to see. Sandy stared at it and gasped in her usual dramatic manner, clasping her hands to her mouth and acting as if someone had just been brutally slaughtered before her.

"Oh my god Alaska, I am sooo sorry, I keep forgetting!" She said, rushing forwards and giving her a tight apologetic hug before Alaska got a chance to object. "It's just that your head suddenly healed and we've left the hospital, and I keep thinking you're fully healed, I am so sorry!"

"It is fine," Alaska grunted, "I was merely pointing it out. Now please let go of me before you snap my back in two!" Sandy let go, looking even more apologetic, and Alaska merely brushed the situation aside as she walked forwards, trying to make out a way to go in the strange tunnel they had entered.

It had been three days since the Vermillion harbour had exploded and no one officially knew who or what was responsible, but Alaska knew that it simply had to be Gideon: just like with the nuclear bomb, there was no one else that would possibly do such a thing, even if no one knew why. Alaska had wanted to help but had been forced to stay in hospital under doctor's orders, claiming that they had to wait and see in case her head injury got worse but secretly the doctors wanted to know how it had happened. Alaska didn't want to reveal that a mysterious Pokemon had saved her, and she didn't want to draw any attention towards herself and knew that having a strangely powerful Pokemon following her was going to stir something up. Instead, she just said her family had a history of healing quickly and kept her secret to herself, not even telling Sandy or her Pokemon: it would merely cause them worry, and Alaska didn't need anything else to disturb them.

Steven had lingered around and Alaska had heard Red had been around, though she never personally saw him. The ex-Hoenn champion was unwilling to discuss the explosion, and Alaska felt rather annoyed to suddenly be shunned asides when he had appeared so open towards helping her. It could just be the fact he was busy, but Alaska found him asking too many questions about her to counter the ones she asked him, and had a feeling the champion had changed his mind and now wanted her to assist with putting a stop to Gideon. She couldn't be sure, but also didn't want to have them following her and try to pull her towards any dramas, so she gave them a false lead as to where they were going: hopefully Alaska would manage a brief amount of time to focus on training and her journey as she travelled through Diglett's Cave.

It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, and as soon as the doctor said she could go, warning her about not stressing her leg out too much, Alaska had led Sandy towards the cave, tucked away in the city's surrounding cliffs. However, it had now been nearly two hours of wandering around and Alaska had no idea where she was going. Sandy had brought a torch at a shop near the hospital and it provided a narrow beam of light, but it wasn't enough to fully distinguish things. There were a lot of sharp corners that turned rather suddenly in their dim lighting, and Alaska was getting annoyed as she had hoped to have made more progress. Instead, her leg caused her to hobble along and she could barely follow Sandy and the dim amount of light they had. It might have been fine if they had seen a Pokemon, but not a single Pokemon that they could possibly train against had shown up.

"This is getting boring," Sandy said, almost in a summary to Alaska's thoughts as they turned another bend. The light reflecting off the ways showed this passage was a lot wider and straighter, but it still didn't look very exciting.

"For once I agree with you," Alaska thought with a sigh, rubbing her leg painfully. "Shall we sit down and see if the Pokemon want to come out?"

"Oooh yes, that sounds fun!" Sandy said excitably and leapt down towards a rock. Alaska began lowering herself down just as Sandy screamed and leapt up, clutching her rear. The torch spun through the air and Alaska quickly caught it, wondering what Sandy was screaming about. The beam of light caught something right where she had been about to sit: a Diglett, with its curved body and red nose, had pushed its way through the ground in the exact place Sandy had been about to sit.

"Digle Dig Digle Dig," the Diglett said cheerfully, but suddenly ducked as Sandy swung her leg over its head.

"Silly thing, you nearly hit me!" Sandy huffed, but turned around as there was a thud. She gasped as she saw Alaska had fallen to the ground and was about to rush over and see if she was alright, but Sandy was stunned to see Alaska was laughing. It wasn't quiet and reserved, instead the exact opposite: her laugh echoed around the cave and sounded like a foghorn that had swallowed some canned laughter. It was rather strange to see Alaska, who usual showed her humour in snappy comebacks and kept the rest of her emotions and thoughts to herself, roaring with laughter on the floor of the cave.

"Why exactly are you laughing about?" A confused Sandy asked, looking around to try and see what had set her friend off. Alaska tried to silence herself in order to answer properly, but her laughter simply pushed through.

"You nearly… sat… on a… Diglett!" Alaska explained breathlessly, clutching her sides and unable to contain herself. Saying it aloud set of another chain of laughter, and Alaska continued to laugh until tears streamed down her face, the pain in her leg rising up her back and her cane prodding into her side. It was immature and relatively an overreaction, but Alaska was unable to contain herself.

"What is so funny about that?" Sandy asked indignantly, nearly setting Alaska off again. Sandy stared down at the Diglett to try and see why it was amusing, only to find the Pokemon looked rather confused at the situation itself.

"Can't you see what a Diglett _may_ look like and see _why_ I may find it hilarious you nearly sat on it with _that_ particular area?" Saying this caused Alaska to burst into a fit of giggles she tried to contain by covering her mouth, staring at Sandy's confused look. The blonde stared down at the Diglett, examining every inch of it in the dim light from the torch, trying to work out what Alaska was on about, when suddenly she remembered something from a R-rated comedy she'd seen a bit of on TV.

"Oh my god Alaska, that's sick!" Sandy gasped, looking down at her friend in horror and disgust. Alaska found the reaction hilarious and burst into laughing again, rolling onto her back as her roar echoed, but didn't notice as Sandy snatched the torch and moved briskly away. "You stay here and be immature, I'll try and find where to go next!" And without another word, Sandy thumped away, leaving Alaska in the dark.

"Come on Sandy, it was just teasing!" Alaska called but got no form of response. "Damnit!" She cursed under her breath and grabbed her cane, beginning to push herself up. Her laughter had been brought on by several days of seriousness with little humour, and having a piece of comedy gold thrust upon her was something Alaska simply couldn't resist after dealing with all the past dreariness. However, it seemed Sandy hadn't seen it that way, and Alaska didn't want her friend to be angry with her.

"Wait up, I can't move quickly!" Alaska called, limping after Sandy with more pain than before from rolling on the ground. Sandy seemed to have found a natural staircase leading up towards another level and was proceeding up there, leaving Alaska to feel her way in the dark. "This is really unsafe you now," she called out, having to prod each step with her cane so she knew where it was. "I could easily fall over in this dark!"

"You should have thought of that before you laughed at me!" Sandy retorted. Alaska rolled her eyes as she tried to feel her way, the light getting further away.

"Why are you overreacting to this?" She called back. "I didn't mean to upset you, but I just thought it was funny! We quite clearly have different senses of humour, but there's no need to run off!" Sandy didn't reply to this one, and she was getting too far away. Alaska wasn't going to apologise if she was just walking away and had to do something, and reached into her pocket for a PokeBall.  
"Paige, I need you to stop her!" Alaska said, the red light briefly lighting up her path and allowing her to climb the last two steps with clear vision. The light disappeared as Paige formed, barely visible in the dark but had received her order.

"Pidge Pidge Pidgey!" She called, and took off towards the torch beam, which seemed to have stopped moving. Alaska wondered if Sandy had decided to stop and discuss things, and at the same time was simply glad to get a chance to move forwards, but was taken aback as another burst of red light appeared near her.

"Butterfree, Confusion!" Sandy said with a slight huff.

"Free Free," Butterfree said, not able to know who she was truly attacking in the darkness. Her Compoundeyes revealed something before her and gave better vision, but she had no way of knowing it was her friend as her eyes flashed pink.

"OTTO!" Paige gasped, crashing into something nearby. Alaska gasped and hobbled forwards as fast as she could, her cane catching Paige as she fell down from the roof.

"Paige, are you alright?" Alaska asked, unable to bend down due to her knee but staring sympathetically and curiously down. Butterfree hovered over, looking confused and shocked at what had happened, but Paige was thankfully alright, quickly getting up. Alaska smiled in relief, but quickly turned angrily towards Sandy. "What was that for? Paige could have been seriously hurt?"

"What was that for?" Sandy snapped back. "I should ask you the same thing! You didn't seem to think if I would get hurt as you just laughed at me for about five minutes!"

"Sandy, it was only a joke, and I was more laughing at the situation that you," Alaska tried to explain, her tone getting a bit exasperated, but Sandy simply sniffed.

"I am sure that'll make you feel better!" She whimpered. "That's exactly what people use to say to me! _Oh Sandy, we weren't really laughing at you, I promise!, Oh Sandy dear, your just overreacting, I am sure that wasn't what happened! Oh Sandy, just take a few deep breathes and calm down!_ Well, I am not going to take that from you!" She said with a tone that was both thunderous and emotional at the same time. "I've had people mocking me for the way I think and the way I act for too long! Just because I'm airy and don't grasp things straight away people just label me stupid and use it as a chance to take the mickey out of me! I had accepted getting it from them, but I never expected it from you!"

"Sandy, I never knew!" Alaska gasped, shocked and taken aback by this sudden revelation, suddenly feeling guilt building up in her.

"The thing is Alaska, I think you do just think I'm stupid and silly and weird!" Sandy huffed, her voice cracking slightly. "You never seem to want to discuss things with me and never want to just talk! You just spent the past few days in hospital and you ignored all my attempts to start a conversation, even though I was the one who practically told you to use Metal Claw on Voltorb, and I can see your eyes flashing whenever I suggest something you haven't thought of! I know you don't really want to focus about all this drama and just focus on the journey, but I also know that you are trying to piece things together in your mind and trying to work all of this out. If you just put a little bit more trust in me and shared your thoughts than we could try and work out what is going on together, but if you just think I'm stupid and airy than this friendship isn't going to work!" Alaska was shocked, completely taken aback by the sudden outburst: she had always seen Sandy as a bit airy, over dramatic and annoying at times and had secretly found it a bit silly and amusing, but had no idea that this was offending her. Had she really been ignoring her and shunning her away from trying to solve the mysteries around them?

"Sandy, I had no idea you felt this way and I had no idea you wanted to help!" Alaska said quietly, taking a step forwards and trying to look sympathetic, but Sandy turned away with tears in her eyes.

"Don't bother, I don't need sympathy from you!" She said. "I am happy with how I act, now you just need to feel the same!" And without another word, the blonde marched to the side. Alaska thought she was going to jump down into the path below, but saw Sandy was instead heading for a bridge hidden in the dark. Alaska glanced at Paige and saw she was equally as shocked, but Butterfree was moving quickly over to Sandy to console her.

"This is intense!" Alaska whispered to her Pidgeotto. "I had no idea she was this serious about things, did you?" Paige shook her head, and Alaska watched the torchlight as it moved further away, wondering why Sandy had never mentioned being bullied for her airy nature before. Guilt was wrapped around her, and Alaska had no idea quite what to do or say, still thrown by what Sandy had said and trying to work out the times that she may have offended her friend.

"Pidge Pidgey Otto Otto Pidge," Paige whispered, urging Alaska forwards with her wing. It seemed the light had stopped moving, and sniffles and sobbing could be heard from a distance. Alaska couldn't just ignore her friend in this time of need, and knew that sitting down and talking about this, while a bit too girly and serious for her liking, could be an easy way to clear the air now.

"Sandy, do you want to talk about this?" Alaska asked kindly, smiling as she advanced forwards, but Sandy hastily sniffed and swivelled around, almost as if trying to find her way forwards.

"Not right now Alaska, I need some time to myself!" Sandy huffed, sobbing more than before. Alaska had never had to deal with a close human friend before, but had a feeling that Sandy did really want to talk and continued forwards, trying to seem sensitive, but it seemed to only annoy Sandy more. "Are you even listening to me? This is exactly what I am talking about Alaska, you never listen! I DON'T want to talk right now!" Sandy yelled, stamping her foot down on the 'don't'. However, as soon as she did, a crack echoed throughout the tunnel. Everyone froze, not quite sure what this meant, but than several more cracks occurred. No one knew what to do, everyone simply looking around in shock and trying to think of a solution.

"Sandy, stay – ," Alaska began, but it was too late: she gasped as there was the loudest crack of all, and suddenly Sandy was screaming, light spinning around as the torch fell down to the path below. "NO!" Alaska yelled, and leaned over the side as the torch landed on the ground, shattering and taking all the light with it. She clutched at her chest in shock as she stared down into the darkness, no way of knowing what had happened to Sandy…

* * *

**Originally this was going to be a discussion about all the events that had occured, but I decided to save that for another point in the next arc as I wanted to focus on Alaska and Sandy's friendship, both with revealing a bit about Sandy and getting Alaska to confront how she mocks Sandy a bit. However, all of Sandy's backstory won't be revealed for a little while yet and this will set up some new aspects in their friendship. I also hope to try and squeeze some more Pokemon development in that this chapter didn't really allow for, as I think Pokemon like Nadia and Bellsprout need more personality. However, let's just wait and see what happens next :)**


	48. Chapter 34: A Shiny New Puzzle Piece

**Chapter Thirty Four: A Shiny New Puzzle Piece**

"SANDY!" Alaska screamed, leaning down over the edge and staring into the darkness below. "SANDY, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Her heart was pounding against her chest as her fingers touched the wooden bridge that only a few moments ago had been solid and fine standing. Alaska had no idea what had happened, only guessing that the bridge was old and had snapped when Sandy stamped her foot, but she really didn't care about how things had happened. Her only focus was on whether her friend was alright, and Alaska desperately tried to make something out in the darkness beneath her, guilt beginning to rise up as she knew that it would all be her fault if something bad had happened.

"Alaska!" Sandy suddenly gasped, and Alaska breathed with relief and exchanged a slight smile with Paige that her friend seemed alright. "Alaska, you need to pull me up, I can't hold on much longer!"

"Pull you up?" Alaska said, turning back around, her little moment of happiness slipping away. She had presumed that Sandy had fallen to the ground but hadn't been knocked out, but Alaska was stunned to realize the situation was very different: judging by the sway of the wood against her fingertips, Sandy was hanging onto the bottom of her half of the bridge for dear life. There was no real way of knowing how far down she had to fall or what could lie beneath if she did so, leaving the only option to pull Sandy up.

"Don't worry, just hang on!" Alaska called.

"Oh ha ha, very funny!" Sandy snapped, grunting as she clutched tightly onto the bridge.

"That pun was unintentional," Alaska called back, realizing how stupid it had been to say something like that based on the reason why they were here. She quickly reached into her bag and pulled out two PokeBalls as Paige and Butterfree came over. The Butterfly Pokemon seemed rather shocked by the incident, and Alaska knew her Confusion wouldn't be enough to save Sandy in this darkness.

"Don't worry, we'll get her out," Alaska said warmly, trying to seem reassuringly but was too worried about Sandy's safety to be sure. She unleashed the two PokeBalls, and the red light highlighted the situation they were in: the bridge snapped almost cleanly into two, both halves now hanging on as the supports bent dangerously. And there was Sandy, looking petrified as she clung helplessly onto her half of her bridge with her legs flailing. As the light faded instantly, Alaska knew they had to move fast before the entire bridge collapsed.

"Para Para," Frances called in the dark behind her.

"Nido Ran Ran!" Nadia added, Alaska sensing her moving around curiously. Realistically, Alaska would have sent Darwin out and used his monkey abilities to rescue Sandy and put an end to this, but there was no way of knowing if he would obey a simple but important order like that. Alaska turned to face the four females behind, knowing they couldn't see her, knowing the two new arrivals would be rather confused, and not knowing if her plan was going to work at all, but it was something she had to try.

"Alright, we need to move swiftly," Alaska explained. "I am going to lean down and give Sandy my cane to grab onto: I need you four to hold onto me to stabilize me, or to help lower me down if I have to. There is no time for arguments or anything like that, we just need to move, alright?" She couldn't see if they agreed or disagreed in the black, but there were no verbal protests, so she took that as a good sign. "Alright, that's good then! Let's just get this over with before any of those Diglett coming poking around."

"Oh ha ha!" Sandy snapped. "Can you stop with the innuendos for one moment? My life is hanging in the balance!"

"That was unintentional!" Alaska called back irritably, trying not to giggle as Sandy's own little pun. However, all signs of laughter stopped as soon as Alaska moved towards the edge: staring down into the darkness below was unsettling, especially as she had no way of knowing what would happen now that the light had gone. But she had made the promise and the declaration, and Alaska couldn't back away now, especially not after the worse things she had been through.

"Here goes nothing," she whispered, and leaned over the edge. Blood instantly rushed to her head as she dangled over the side, and Alaska instantly knew it wouldn't be a comfortable experience but had to soldier on regardless. "Sandy, you need to grab onto my cane, if you can!"

"How am I supposed to see it?" Sandy cried back, and Alaska cursed, forgetting to factor the darkness into the equation.

"Just feel out for it!" She yelled back. She could feel her pants tightening as the four Pokemon grabbed onto them for support, and Alaska had a horrible image of her pants tearing and her sprawling onto the ground below. She forced all negative thoughts out and focused on lowering her cane down, using her other hand to hold onto the bridge for extra support. The wooden structure didn't seem to enjoy the added tension and began t creak, something that didn't happen Alaska's worries of the plan.

"Have you got it?" Alaska called, tapping the cane against the wood and hoping she missed Sandy's head. She felt the cane touch something as she swung it around, and held it steady in an attempt for Sandy to grasp on. She felt something loosely tug down, and a smile crossed her face as the cane was tugged firmly down.

"GOT IT!" Sandy yelled ecstatically. Alaska would have punched the air in happiness if she could, but instead had to focus on using both hands to hold tightly onto the cane now that Sandy's weight had shifted. The Pokemon let out cries of delight back on solid ground, but they now had a difficult mission to get Sandy back up: the Pokemon were going to struggle with both weights now, the bridge was clearly unstable and could go at any moment, and a breeze had suddenly erupted inside the tunnel. Dust and sand was blowing into Alaska's eyes as she had to turn away to avoid it, hoping it wouldn't impair the operation.

"Alright Sandy, just hold onto the cane and use your feet to walk up the bridge to try and help us out!" Alaska explained, feeling a sudden tug as the Pokemon began to pull her back up. There was an angry tutting sound from below, and Alaska realised she had annoyed her friend once more.

"Well _of course_ I am going to use my feet to walk Alaska, I am not that stupid!" Sandy huffed. Alaska rolled her eyes, not intending for her comment to be taken that way, but she knew that amends had to be made.

"Sandy, I am sorry for laughing so hard," Alaska said, trying not to sound irritated. "It was a mean of me and I had no idea that it would upset you that way, but I do think you overreacted. We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't run off! We both just need to build a bridge and get over this."

"STOP WITH THE PUNS!" Sandy shouted, sending a shock through Alaska's body.

"IT WAS UNINTENTIONAL!" She yelled back, her arms beginning to strain the longer Sandy clung on, and her head was beginning to feel strange as nearly all the blood in her body moved towards it. Despite the initial strong tug, the Pokemon were struggling to maintain a hold of the two girls, and Alaska and Sandy were barely moving.

"I don't care if it was intentional or not, it still hurt!" Sandy said, sounding tearful once more but also a lot closer, the sounds of her feet walking up the bridge coming close to Alaska. "Did you even listen before? I have had bullying all my life for the simple matter that I like to view things differently, and therefore I deserve it! I may have accepted getting it from other people, but never from the only human friend I've ever had!" Alaska was taken aback by this, so surprised by this last statement that her fingers slipped slightly. "ALASKA, HOLD ON!" Sandy yelled, kicking at the bridge in an attempt to stop herself from slipping. Alaska quickly recovered and grasped back on, but Sandy's kicking had more far reaching consequences.

There was a crack as one foot collided, and a second as the kick struck. Before anyone knew it, one half of the bridge suddenly swung out. Alaska was still trying to adjust herself and hold on as she felt the bridge sway beneath her, and Sandy screamed as her feet fell loose.

"CALM DOWN!" Alaska cried, stunned by the sudden change in the situation. "You four, pull harder!" She called back to the Pokemon, but she had noticed that they had slipped during Sandy's kicking and the bridge snapping. The bridge continued to sway on the last wooden hold it had left, and Sandy's legs flailed as if they had no choice but to keep on kicking. "Sandy, you need to calm down!"

"Why did you nearly let go of me?" Sandy cried, trying to grasp onto the cane as sweaty hands slipped across its surface. Alaska was struggling to hold on herself, both the rush of blood, the strain of her arms and the sweat gathering on the cane, but she couldn't help but push this all aside as she looked towards where she expected Sandy to be, expecting their eyes to meet through the black.

"I nearly let go because I was surprised," Alaska said seriously. "Not because I was surprised you had no friends… though that sounded kind of mean, but ignore that! What I am trying to save is that I have never had any human friends either... not for the past few years at least. It has just been me and Paige, and while I would never exchange that for anything in the world, it could be lonely at school without anyone with me. I have always been a free spirit and enjoyed being by myself, but when we began travelling together, I realised what it was like to have a human friend and someone to travel with that could actually reply in English." There was a crack, and Alaska and Sandy both cried out as the rest of the bridge disappeared, crashing down below to join the torch. Their bodies crashed against the side, the jagged rocks prodding into them, and Alaska gulped as her body slipped forwards.

"I am sorry for laughing, but I just needed to let my stress out," Alaska said quickly. "I just hope we can get passed this and move on. I can't promise I won't be bitchy or anything again as I was born a bitch and will damn well die insulting the doctors around me if I can, but I can promise to fill you in one as many of my theories about what is going on around us as I can, as it's the least you deserve after dragging you into it."

"Do you promise?" Sandy called in a shriek, their bodies swaying dangerously over the edge. Alaska could feel the cane slipping through her fingers, the pain in the front half of her body uncomfortable and nearing unbearable, but she lunged forwards with one of her hands.

"Of course," she said, the determination of holding her friend up showing in her voice as she grasped onto Sandy's hands, the cane slipping away and crashing to the ground. They were close enough now that Alaska could make out a few of Sandy's features, and though the sudden breeze had picked up and was now gushing sand over them, she could see the light in her friend's eyes and the wide beam of her smile. Alaska didn't quite know where the friendship was going to go from her, and wasn't quite sure what it was going to be like, but, for once in her life, she was willing to see what it would be like to have a true human friend.

Than they began to fall.

It was so unexpected that it took Alaska a few seconds to register: one second she was straining to hold up her new best friend, trying to work out what it was going to be like to have this close relationship with somebody, and the next she was beginning to fall down. Alaska noticed her stomach and heart seemingly turning and her head throbbing from the rush of blood around it, and registered that while something was still holding onto the bottom of her pants, it seemed that they weren't doing a very good job of keeping them still.

"AAAAAHHH!" Sandy screamed as they suddenly seemed to gather speed. Alaska wondered if this was just because of the darkness disorientating her, or the fact she now fully registered she was falling making things speed up, but either way she felt a scream brewing in the back of her throat as well. She clung onto Sandy's hands, not letting go of her even if they were about to die. She had no way of knowing when they would hit the ground, but there was no way to stop them either. It seemed cruel for both girls to suffer this when they had only just found their first true human friend, but Alaska shut her eyes and braced for impact, the only lesson she could truly take from all the disasters that had happened to her was that life had never planned on being fair to her….

And than all she could see was blue.

The bright light shone through her eyelids, and Alaska convinced herself for a moment that she had painlessly hit the ground and had instantly moved onwards to death. However, she could feel Sandy's hands still holding tightly to hers and felt the Pokemon clinging onto her leg, and knew that something else was occurring. Alaska wondered if this was the same strange Pokemon that had rescued her in Vermillion, but there was no strange voices sounding in her head, leaving her with no choice but to open her eyes and see what had happened.

The source of the mystery was uncertain, but the first thing Alaska could see was that they were now hurtling towards a fountain of water that was rising up to meet them. It was glowing brighter than any sunlit ocean Alaska had ever seen, casting a radiant light that lit up every crack and every rock around them. Alaska turned to see Diglett and their three headed evolution Dugtrio were emerging all around at the sudden appearance of the glowing water. She could see stunned looks across Paige, Frances, Nadia and Butterfree's faces, and moved her leg closer despite the pain in attempt to draw them forwards, feeling Sandy's fingernails digging into her hand in fear and for an attempt at comfort at the same time. But before Alaska could bring them close, her back crashed into the water and she instantly sunk through.

The feeling was strange as Alaska slowed down, the water cushioning her speed. All sounds became distant and eerie, and she could feel the water all around her, yet Alaska couldn't feel her clothes going wet. All she could really see was the bright blue light from the water, four shimmering shapes signalling the Pokemon crashing down above her. She had no idea exactly what this water was or where it came from, and just as Alaska tried to put together a formula she began to spin.

_Oh, what the fuck now?_ Alaska thought irritably, her whole body beginning to feel strange as they spun through the air. She was so passed having all these supernatural things happen to her that it was becoming more of a drag than something exciting or interesting, and she knew that it was only going to add something new to the greater mystery.

But as Alaska continued to spin, she found her mind focussing more on that than anything else. Her body didn't seem to be bumping into anything, instead feeling much stranger and somehow more lightweight. The light continued to shine and Alaska couldn't see anything except blue burning into her eyes. The number of sensations she was feeling at the moment were confusing and bordering on unbearable, but Alaska tried to stay focussed and find out what was going on. She caught something move out to the side, and she did her best to try and follow what it was, though the spinning made it unbearable. All she could make out was that it seemed to be glowing as well, with a familiar purple cape fluttering on its back…

But just as Alaska tried to work out why Suicune had saved them from a nasty fall, everything went dark. Alaska could still feel the water over her and could feel that they were going faster, but everything else was dark and a blur. Her entire body felt like it was getting compressed, her head being squashed out of proportion. Alaska was forced to shut her eyes, still feeling the spinning sensation throughout her entire body and trying to work out exactly what was going on.

But as quickly as this had all started, Alaska suddenly found relief: she was sort of spat out of the water, one second spinning and trying to spin and the next shooting through the air. Sunlight burned through her eyelids, and Alaska opened them in time to see a meadow of green grass coming up to meet them.

"FUCK!" Alaska yelled, colliding into the hard ground and feeling a shockwave run throughout her entire body, particularly feeling it in her leg. She rolled forwards a few feet and heard several more thuds, turning over to see the four Pokemon groaning as well.

"Alaska!" A voice shrieked, and Alaska didn't even get a chance to sit up before she felt one of Sandy's familiar, rub crushing hugs. "Oh Alaska, I thought we were going to die! Where did that water come from? And where are we?" Alaska wanted to tell her to let go, but she found the hug rather comforting after having shouted at each other only a few minutes ago. In answer to her first question, Alaska knew she was going to have to tell her what she saw: this incident had mainly made her realize that Sandy was her only human ally that she could truly trust, unlike Steven and Bill, and was the only person who could share in her opinions. However, she had no idea the answer to the second.

"I have no bloody clue where we are," Alaska said, looking up at the cliffs around them that they possibly had come out of, but they could truly be anywhere: whoever had designed Kanto had clearly decided to surround everything with towering cliffs, the equivalent of settling to painting your house interior one colour, and therefore there was no true sign of where they were.

"YOU!" A second shriek erupted behind them, and while Sandy and the Pokemon turned in shock, Alaska simply stifled a groan and tried not to turn around and instinctively raise a fist: of course they had ended up next to them, of course they had been sent to join them. The cruel hand of fate, and seemingly Suicune's water, all wanted to save Alaska's life and then screw her over the next minute, and really this shouldn't have come as a surprise.

"YOU!" The voice said, this time a lot louder and a lot closer. Alaska couldn't really ignore her when she was standing so close, and looked up with a smile, trying to keep her composure. Suicune had seemingly just saved her life, but Alaska wasn't really sure if anything would be able to stop the true wrath of a scorned Chloe Carmichael.

* * *

**The next few chapters will have the reality stars, yes, but they are a necessary part of the story and the main reason she went on her journey in the first place, so let's try not to complain about them returning too much :P Hope to have some mroe Pokemon development over the next few chapters as well, so look out for that :D**


	49. Chapter 35: Tart, Slapper, Cow, ETC

**Chapter Thirty Five: Tart, Slapper, Cow, ETC.**

"Oh HEEEEY there Chloe! How are you? Love the nose job, is that Doctor Leroy's work?" Alaska said with a false cheery smile spread across her face. Sandy let out a laugh that sounding more like a war cry as she suddenly silenced herself by covering her mouth with her hands, but continued to snigger as they both turned towards Chloe. The blonde's eyes were nearly sticking out of her head in shock, and Alaska was trying her best to keep the smile up despite the fact she was ready to burst into giggles as well. Standing behind them was the usual shocked and stupid looking film crew, alongside Damian and Lachlan, who were hurrying over with equally surprised looks. There was a building in the background and the sound of rushing water around them, but Alaska was more focussed on the furious looking Chloe looming before her.

"YOU!" She bellowed again. "What are you whores doing here?"

"Excuse me? We're the whores?" Alaska tutted. "Who was ready and waiting to spread her legs for the first guy in our year that was able to get one up, you selfish little –,"

"Alaska," Damian interrupted as he appeared before them, looking casual in a tight shirt and jeans that resembled Alaska's own. "Why don't we change things up a bit and just both carry on our individual journeys, alright?"

"NO!" Chloe snarled furiously. "Look at what that psychotic bitch did to my nose?"

"What did she do? It looks the same as always," Sandy snapped, and Alaska turned and gave her an approving nod at the comeback. Chloe snarled but at the same time self consciously touched her nose, which was bound with tape and looked rather inflamed after its meeting with Paige's beak. Lachlan appeared alongside as well, looking a tad more breathless than Damian did, at the same time the four Pokemon made their way forwards as well.

"Look, she even already has some Pokemon out!" Chloe snapped, smiling widely as she grabbed her own PokeBall. "Come on Alaska, let's see how well you fair against me this time!" Alaska sighed as she got to her feet, though instantly regretted at as she forgot about the fact she no longer had a cane to lean on. Sandy swooped in though to cover this up, standing close to her and slyly propping her right shoulder under Alaska's left armpit to help balance her.

"Chloe, I would love to battle you and crush you for the… fourth time? Fifth? I've lost count it's been so many, but I really don't have time for this," Alaska purred with a sweet smile. "I don't even know where we have just arrived at, how we arrived or why we arrived, and I would like to solve these questions before I have any more dealings with the likes of you." Chloe looked frustrated at this, but Alaska wanted to keep moving and didn't care about the reality stars at the moment: she needed to find out where they were and how to move on to the next gym.

"What is this place exactly?" Alaska asked, turning around to take in the views. As well as the cliffs looming over them from all sides, Alaska could see that they were standing in the middle of a rather large field of neatly trimmed green grass. It surrounded them as much as the cliffs did, and it seemed to stretch on forever. A sparkling blue river cut between the mountains and the field, moving so quickly that Alaska wasn't quite sure what direction it was moving in, but the beautiful water was rather entrancing. She became almost absorbed in staring towards it, wondering if it was from here that Suicune had unleashed them into this tense situation, or if they had somehow moved through the rocky cliffs around them.

"This is the Power Plant," Lachlan explained. "Haven't you been here before?"

"Oh please, Alaska can't even afford to walk across the road," Chloe said with a catty smile, though Alaska ignored the jibe as she turned towards the building she'd seen before. It was a towering structure that looked a lot like a mansion or a castle, except it was made out of metal, glass and the concrete was painted blue to match the river. It was a very modern building that could easily pass for a flash business headquarters, and Alaska was actually rather impressed to show up here.

"Hang on a second… I thought the Power Plant was in ruins?" Alaska asked.

"It was for a long time, but I think they decided to rebuild it when something to do with Team Rocket caused the old building to complete collapse and they decided to rebuild," Sandy explained in her ear, and suddenly an excited look spread across her face. "Ooooh, why don't we go in and have a look around? I hear that they use Electric Pokemon to help at power plants: I could get some information on caring for my Pichu when it finally hatches!"

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea," Alaska said with a shrug. In reality, she didn't really want to spend time in a power plant when her Pokemon needed training, but she didn't want to upset Sandy any more by upsetting her. "You lot up for a fun adventure into the fascinating world of electricity?"

"Pidgeotto Pidge Pidgey," Paige said sarcastically, and Alaska merely laughed as they made to move forwards, Butterfree, Frances and Nadia already moving ahead. However, they had barely taken two steps before Chloe appeared before her.

"You can't go in there Alaska, it isn't public access!" Chloe snapped, a smug look spreading across her face. Alaska glared back at her and began to ready a comeback, but Damian moved over once again to settle the two.

"She is telling the truth," he said assertively. "Amanda has to go in and sign some paperwork before we go in, and we're just doing some shots and interviews out here. This area is open to everyone though, and you can get around by simply surfing up the river."

"Oh of course, how simple!" Alaska said sarcastically with a smile to match, turning towards Sandy. "Say Alexandra, why don't we send Onix up and Surf up on the river on his back? Isn't that a smashing idea?"

"Well, to be fair, with his height, he could very well –,"

"Shush," Alaska said sternly before turning back to the stars before her. "I don't care what the 'rules' are: I've just spent several days in hospital after nearly getting blown up twice in two days and now have a very sore leg, so I don't really have time to waste away signing paperwork just to get to the other side."

"They have Electabuzz guards, I wouldn't go in if I was you," Lachlan warned.

"Electabuzz, eh?" Alaska asked with raised eyebrows. "Why don't you go ask Lt. Surge about our gym battle while he repairs the holes I left in his walls and _then_ try and warn me about Electabuzz." Sandy let out another laugh, and Damian and Lachlan merely exchanged looks and shrugs before standing aside. Alaska did a false curtsey before limping forwards with her weight mostly on Sandy, trying her best to remain calm and avoid eye contact with them.

"They look really pissed with you," Sandy whispered as they walked away.

"Don't you think I realise this?" Alaska hissed back with her mouth barely moving, watching as their heads turned to watch them as they walked away. It was not comfortable being around any of them, especially not Chloe and her lust to defeat Alaska and get revenge, and she simply wanted to get away. She would love the chance to defeat Chloe once more, but Alaska needed to focus on her proper journey: all the explosions and injuries had hindered her travels and prevented her from properly training her Pokemon, and she needed to work on the various issues her team had. And then Alaska wanted to sit down and talk with Sandy and discuss what had happened back in the tunnel, just to make sure the air was clear before they moved on.

However, the two had barely moved three metres before someone appeared who seemed to have a different idea on their plans.

"Alright you lot, those stuck up nerds have finally given us the go ahead," Amanda Anderson yelled as she strutted out from the Power Plant, staring down at the forms she clutched in her hands, unaware of who was waiting in front of her. Alaska and Sandy came to a halt in an attempt to not draw attention to themselves, but the tense silence that covered the field was enough to draw the producer's eyes upwards.

Alaska wasn't quite sure what to make of the look at the time. She had been expecting the producer to come across as angry or furious like she had previously been at the girl that continued to ruin her production, and that was something Alaska probably wouldn't have minded as she really didn't want to see her either. However, she wasn't expecting the initial look across Amanda's usually blank face: her eyes had bulged and her jaw had dropped in surprise, and the forms she held nearly fell to the ground. Alaska wasn't sure why Amanda looked so surprised, but the completely shocked look was enough to freeze both of them in their tracks.

"Wh-wha-what are you d-doing h-here?" The producer stammered, her usual strict and organised composure thrown out by the sudden appearance of Alaska and Sandy. Alaska was still trying to work out why she was so shocked as the stars ran forwards, Chloe looking close to bursting with excitement.

"These two just suddenly appeared on the grass a few minutes ago, but they don't even know where they are or why they are here!" She explained, grinning at the two with a devilishly happy smile. "And now they can't get away because they don't have a Pokemon that could Surf, boo hoo!" Chloe added with a sneer, keeping the delighted smile on her face for the whole time.

"Oh bite me," Alaska snapped. "We are just going to walk right through the Power Plant, and there is nothing you can do about it!"

"Well, actually Alaska, you can't legally walk through the Power Plant unless you have been authorized," Lachlan reminded her, though he fell silent after having a glare thrown in his direction. Alaska was rather annoyed at arriving in an area infested with the stars, and even more so that she seemingly couldn't escape. Amanda straightened the papers in her hands and looked up with a snobby look back on her face: her surprised reaction had been a shock, but the producer was ignoring it and getting back to her usual demeanour.

"Lachlan is very correct Miss Acevedo," Amanda said rapidly with acid seeping through every word, "this is a very prestigious, important and private building, not some amusement park you can just wander through at your own accord! As much as we always have fun whenever we meet, you are going to have to stay here until you find a way to get back to public land." And with that, Amanda turned and beckoned for her stars to follow without another word. Alaska rolled her eyes and mentally groaned in annoyance: she should have just kept on walking and not cared about what they said, but now they were going to be stuck here for who knows how long. At least if they had landed back in Diglett's Cave she would be having a nice little rest right now.

"Wait!" A shout suddenly rang out, and all eyes turned as Damian moved between the two groups. "Amanda, what if we let them fight for their right to go through the plant?" Alaska was rather taken aback by this, and it appeared that all the stars and the crew were surprised as well.

"Whatever do you mean Damian?" Amanda asked in what she must have thought was a sweet voice, but it had the tone and bitterness that implied he should have just shut up.

"Well, we always end up battling them anyway, so why don't we make it a more fair competition this time?" Damian suggested. "We are doing some challenge in the plant, so let's let the two compete alongside us, and if one of them wins, they are allowed to leave the plant with us?"

"Oh yes, that actually sounds fun!" Sandy said, beaming brightly at the idea. Alaska, however, was less certain: she had never quite worked out Damian, not sure if he was part of the brainless reality stars or had a kind soul within. Darwin had nearly killed his Charmander last time they met, so what if it was all part of an elaborate revenge plan, or was he really just concerned about them making it out of the area?

"Can we do this?" Chloe asked excitedly. "I want the chance to cream Alaska when our cameras are actually rolling!" Amanda was looking rather uncomfortable, another expression Alaska had never seen her use before, and could see the producer was rapidly thinking things through.

"Alright, fine!" She huffed, looking rather annoyed, and pointed an accusing finger towards Alaska. "However, this is the LAST time we will ever cross paths! From now on, we will do our best to avoid each other, agreed?"

"I couldn't be happier with the arrangement," Alaska said with a sarcastic smile. Sandy and Chloe both looked rather happy with this, while Damian merely looked across at Alaska and gave her a half smile and a nod. She wasn't sure what this was supposed to mean and ignored him, turning back towards her Pokemon instead.

"Ready for a challenge?" She asked, and Paige, Nadia and Butterfree all nodded in agreement. Alaska was glad they were happy about the situation, as she would rather have just sat down and had a discussion about things for a moment: why had Amanda looked so shocked, and why had Suicune sent them here? Why had Suicune even appeared in the first place? Alaska had more pressing issues to deal with then vengeful reality stars, but a competition could be the chance to train her Pokemon that she had been looking for, and if it was going to get them moving once more, than Alaska was happy for the chance.

* * *

**Sorry for the rather slow and uneventful chapter: it was a bit of a struggle to write a relatively boring chapter, so also sorry on the delay. The last three chapters of this arc will be very exciting though, so stay tuned for them to arrive hopefully sooner rather than later :D **


	50. Chapter 36: Alaska &the Electric Factory

**Chapter Thirty Six: Alaska Acevedo and the Electric Factory**

Despite all the other surprises that had occurred that day, Alaska couldn't help but be taking aback when they stepped into the Power Plant.

It looked like something out of a science fiction movie, or a dystopian novel about a controlling government, but Alaska would rather stick with the lighter thought. It was world that was sparkling white and encased in metal and glass: the tiles blended into the wall, the only thing separating the entire interior from looking like a futuristic winter wonderland being the large amount of technology spread about. No matter what direction Alaska turned, there was some sort of computer or monitor or hard drive built into the wall, a coated technician staring towards the screen as their fingers rapidly typed or touched around.

The more they moved inside, the more Alaska became engrossed by the architectural beauty of the building. Dozens of walkways loomed overhead, made entirely of glass that made it look as if the people moving across and between floors were walking on thin air. Beautiful views were provided of the rushing river, the surrounding cliffs, the fields of green. It was an attractive view that could easily take your mind of the whirr of turbines and the moan of machinery that surrounded them, though none of the people working them seemed to have any free time to look at the amazing view outside. Despite the modern glitz and glamour the new Power Plant possessed, it was still just another workplace for some people no matter what it looked like.

"Isn't this place amazing?" Sandy whispered in Alaska's eye as the two walked side by side, Alaska still have to lean on her friend for support.

"It is a pretty impressive building," Alaska replied, voicing her thoughts aloud, "but I'm beginning to wonder what challenge possibly could have been set up for us in a power plant." She turned back towards the Amanda and the reality stars, who were all leading the way past doors to glass walled offices and hundreds more monitors and the scientists working there. Andy, the tour guide who usually led school and press trips, was walking alongside Amanda talking animatedly to her about the building as he led them to their area, though Alaska wondered if she even truly cared, simply smiling and nodding as the producer thought of how to get rid of the new pest on her trip. There was no shaking the rather surprising look Amanda had worn when she had first set eyes on them only a few minutes ago, and Alaska was trying her best to work out what it could mean but drawing no possible ideas asides from her being surprised to see them, though this look was a lot more than simply being shocked.

"Alright everyone," Andy called from the front, clapping his hands together excitedly. "We're now at your super special location for your challenge! I hope you are all excited to see what's behind this door," he said with a mega watt beam, but he didn't get the overly excited reaction he'd usually get from children and disappointedly turned to the door. Once his back was turned, Amanda turned around to face Alaska: she had a slight smirk on her face, clearly knowing what was on the other side and clearly intrigued to see how she would react. Alaska merely smiled back, not even going to give her any reason to be excited. The stars turned around once they caught Amanda's face, seeing how Alaska would react: Chloe was smirking as well, clearly excited for the chance to show her up, while Lachlan remained his usual uncertain self. But Alaska's eyes were drawn towards Damian, who was looking at her with a sense of worry that he always seemed to have. She never knew why he always looked at her in this rather sad, serious way, and it somehow made her more uncomfortable than the rest of them put together, though that was uncertain as well.

"Move along," the cameraman grunted behind her, and Alaska realised the door ahead had been unlocked, Amanda following Andy inside. Sandy smiled happily at Alaska as she led them forwards, heading towards the doorway and unaware what would await them on the other side.

"What makes you so sure this is going to go well?" Alaska hissed quietly as Damian disappeared through with one last glance back at them.

"Optimism is something I'm very good at," Sandy replied with a wink, and Alaska couldn't help but smile back: despite all that had apparently happened in her life, Sandy managed to keep a smile on her face for most of the day, and Alaska had to admire that in someone who had nearly been killed about five times since meeting her.

But all happy thoughts left her mind as they entered the cavernous room before them.

It seemed that one part of the building's design was a brilliant amount of soundproofing: though the roar of the turbines and generators that made all of this power could be heard, it was more of a distant sound as if it was coming from outside or the other side of the mountains. You almost wouldn't even know that they were even part of the building and simply carry on with your business, unaware of what lay below.

But stepping through that door shattered that vision. Alaska froze at the top of the stairs, staring at the scene before her: there was about three generators the size of her house moving rapidly before her eyes, so many cables the width of a human body coming off them that it would make Lt. Surge faint in surprise. It was a lot darker and much less nicely designed down here, with the walls mostly concrete and the walkways here bits of metal attached together in a relatively odd manner.

"Wow… just wow…," Alaska mumbled as the camera crew pushed past the two, the doors swinging shut behind them and letting out a clang that echoed above the noise of the generators. It seemed straight out of a science textbook on energy: the large room that must go below the ground, with scientists and technicians examining charts and older computers. This seemed like a rather interesting place for a challenge, but Alaska couldn't help but glance towards the giant whirring generators, knowing how much energy and electricity they must have inside and what exactly that challenge would be.

"Isn't this place so amazing?" Sandy said as Alaska moved, signalling for her to help her hobble down the ringing metal staircase. "To think that there is where the majority of energy in Kanto comes from! Just look at those cables! Think of all the possible places that that power is travelling to!"

"I'd rather focus on the possibilities down here," Alaska mumbled back as they reached the bottom of the staircase, where a technician passed them over an orange coat, yellow hard hat and safety goggles. Alaska would never be seen dead in such a fluorescent, sun-darkening shade of orange elsewhere, but thought it best to stick to the rules rather than be kicked out: as much as she felt uncertain about being near three high powered generators with Amanda, she was intrigued all the same to see where it went.

"Good to see you two join us!" Andy called, ever enthusiastic despite the mixed faces before him. "Now, I know your challenge is meant to be a big surprise for the camera, but we just need to go over some safety issues! Your are all wearing these jackets and hard hats because this is a very high voltage area due to the three power generators around us and the many moving underground to –,"

"How are hard hats going to protect us if one of these things blows up?" Alaska asked with a sweet smile, and the tour guide stopped in his tracks, thrown by the question. Amanda turned towards her and shot an eye bulging look, but Alaska ignored it and winked across at a shocked Chloe.

"Your challenge is to somehow get a flag that is up on the walkway," Andy continued, his only sign of the interruption being a slight loss of enthusiasm. "You can use two Pokemon, and they are only ones that can get up there. This can be achieved in any way, but you MUST make sure not to cause any damage to any of the equipment!" He said, looking a lot more serious now. "These generators and cables cost millions of dollars, but any sort of damage could result in a loss of power for any numbers of areas around Kanto and some locations in Johto. It took a lot of convincing to allow you to even come this far, so let's try and stay away from damaging any important equipment, alright?"

"If you damage anything, you will receive the bill," Amanda added, staring wide-eyed over at Alaska. Alaska tried to ignore the look, but she couldn't help but turn towards the whirring generators before them, knowing that anything being damaged would not end well for here, and that Amanda would probably find a way to blame any damage onto her.

"If we are all aware of the rules, than let's get ready to battle!" Andy said, clapping his hands and sounding enthusiastic once more. Amanda nodded and walked before him, basically shoving him out of the group now that his services were no longer required.

"Since we have yet a-a-another bother in our group," Amanda said, trying to stay calm but letting a stutter come in as she glared over at Alaska and Sandy, "we will do all of our filming after the challenge has been completed and we see who the winner is. Now choose the two Pokemon you will use in this challenge, w-we need to get started! Move along!" She snapped, turning away from everyone and strutting away, her high heels echoing around them. Chloe pulled Damian and Lachlan into a whispered conversation, leaving Alaska and Sandy alone as the crew set things up for the shoot.

"That's odd," Sandy mumbled to Sandy. "Have you ever heard her stutter before?"

"No, she is usually quite sure of herself," Alaska replied in a whisper, but paused before she said anymore, a distant memory rushing back to her. "Wait a second…," she hissed. "The first time I met her she stuttered, and I arrived unexpectedly then as well." On that first day of all their journeys, Alaska could remember Amanda's slight stutter, the producer thrown back when this new trainer arrived at the Viridian City Trainer's House and threw a spanner into the works. She had never stuttered again, almost as if Alaska appearing again wasn't a big surprise, but today Amanda had been thrown: combined with the overly surprised look, something was telling Alaska the producer had never expected to see her again.

"Why aren't they filming now either?" Sandy asked as the two grabbed PokeBalls they had only put away a few minutes ago, not allowed to strut them through the Power Plant above. "Do you think they are waiting to do something to us and then film once we're out of the way? Gosh Alaska, I'm starting to get scared!"

"You got us in this mess remember, so don't start complaining!" Alaska said with a slight glare. "However, I do think something's up: that's not exactly new when it comes to my thoughts on these people, but Amanda seems slightly odd today." Sandy raised a questioning eyebrow, but Alaska shook her head, eyeing the reality trio nearby. "I will stick to my promise, don't worry, but I'm not telling you here!" She stared pointedly at the trio, and Sandy made a rather loud 'aah' sound and nodded. The trio turned around, Chloe looking rather suspicious, but Alaska distracted them by unleashing two PokeBalls, sending Paige and Nadia.

"Ran Ran Nido Ran Ran!" Nadia said, beginning to run around excitedly yet with her normal vicious look on her face. Paige flexed her wings as if she had been cooped up for a while, looking around the wide open space with her look getting progressively grimmer.

"Otto Pidgey Pidge?" She said with a glare, and Alaska couldn't blame her: with the amount of electricity around them, it made the Vermilion Gym look like a static balloon.

"Just trust me on this," Alaska said as Butterfree and Bellsprout formed around Sandy. "I know that this looks hard, but all you have to do is fly up and get a flag off a walkway… I think," Alaska replied, staring uncertainly up at the metal above: now that she thought of it, she wasn't exactly sure what to do. Some men were moving swiftly along above as if they had many times before, placing a flag in the middle of the path. What exactly was their true intention when it came to this challenge? Were they supposed to collect the flag and be the only ones to bring it down? Were Amanda and Andy being deliberately vague on the rules in order to cause some confusion amongst her and Sandy? Alaska looked down at Paige, who merely looked grumpier at Alaska's uncertainty, while Nadia continued to run around eagerly.

"Let's just go with the flow," Alaska replied with a smile, and Paige rolled her eyes.

"Alright everyone, it's time to space out!" Andy called happily. "We have rolled a die, and Chloe is to stand directly in the middle, Lachlan and Damian on either side and Alaska and Sandy at each end."

"How subtle," Alaska mumbled, and she gave Sandy, Butterfree and Bellsprout a recurring smile before turning around, ready to head to her spot. However, she froze in shock, staring directly into one of the largest and more unattractive faces she'd ever encountered: it had a look that was both angry and pouty, with large lips, furious eyes and a blue crest that made its face look fierce. Alaska wasn't quite sure what to make of this head that was the same height as her, and looked around for some advice.

"I see you've met Gyarados," Damian said suddenly, emerging around the side and smirking. Alaska was still stunned and confused, and Damian pulled a blue PokeDex out. "Gyarados, Magikarp's evolved form? Have you never heard of it?" Alaska stared down at the computerized image just as the Gyarados manoeuvred around, showing his very long, almost segmented body, blue on the top and cream on the bottom, with fins showing its Water-type properties.

"Nice Pokemon," Alaska mumbled, looking down to see Paige was more obvious with showing her surprise at the very large Pokemon, while Nadia seemed to be contemplating how to defeat the beast before it. "I take it that this may have come from that fun fishing challenge I intruded in on?"

"Your right there," Damian said, still smiling. "It wasn't too hard to level Magikarp up: some clever switching and constantly winning against Chloe was quite handy in getting both Pokemon evolved." Alaska raised an eyebrow as they moved to the right of Chloe, but her question was answered as a mostly red Pokemon walked forwards, looking like a bigger, scarier Charmander, complete with sharper claws, longer tail and a point on his head.

"Charmeleon Char Char!" Charmeleon said, his voice reminding Alaska of an old smoker that use to live next door to her.

"Congratulations than, I think," Alaska said, moving onto a point marked out by Andy, Damian on her left and all their Pokemon moving in front of them. "I've been trying to train my Paras and Nadia here up, but I've been a bit occupied with other things that I haven't had the chance." Damian nodded, and Alaska was taken aback by this: it had been a long time since she had spoken about herself and not been asked a hundred questions about her life. It was a rather refreshing change, and she couldn't help but stare back at the reality star in an all new light, stunned to be having a proper conversation with a normal person for once.

"Alright, are we all in position?" Amanda called. Alaska turned away from Damian and glanced down towards Sandy, who had her determined face on as she stood alongside Lachlan with his Geodude and Wartortle, Squirtle's evolved form that, like Charmeleon, merely looked like a larger form of his predecessor. Chloe was the only one with no evolved Pokemon on her team, her Bulbasaur and Spearow dwarfed as Gyarados floated above them. "Excellent. Now, your task is to collect the flag from the walkway above, using your two Pokemon to do so, and you must get it back and to the top of the stairs we came down. You must protect the flag once you have it, as anyone else may take it, and be on the look out for any surprises along the way."

"Surprises?" Lachlan asked, sounding a touch nervous. "What do you mean by surprises?" Amanda's face twisted into an uncomfortable looking smile, flashing a set of almost pointed teeth to the crowd before her, and though her head was turned to Lachlan, Alaska caught her eyes flickering towards her.

"Oh, you'll just have to wait and see Mr Lynch," she replied, a hint of laughter behind her words. "Just wait and see." This wasn't particularly settling, and Alaska looked down at Paige, the Pidgeotto looking more concerned than annoyed now. "You have five minutes to complete this challenge, so let the games begin!" Amanda called, and quickly leapt out of the way.

"We're starting already?" Alaska asked, rather surprised, but got no response from Damian: he was already calling out his orders, sending Charmeleon onto Gyarados' back. Chloe's Spearow was hooking her claws into Bulbasaur's back, and Geodude was picking Wartortle up, his long wavy tail and stubby limbs retracting inside the shell. "I guess we're starting then…" she mumbled, eyeing Amanda as she and Andy rushed away, the camera crew moving closer to catch images of the trio commanding their teams. "Nadia, let's just go with the flow and have you on Paige's back, alright?"

"Ran Ran Ran!" The Nidoran said, leaping onto her teammates back before Paige had time to notice. The wind was knocked out of her and her eyes bulged, and Alaska couldn't help but laugh. She really didn't care about the competition and frankly didn't care if she won or not: her attention was on her team getting better, and if Paige and Nadia worked well together, than this long and irritating day would be worth it.

The laughter stopped as the generators exploded behind her.

* * *

**I'll be the first to say it: I am not a big fan of this chapter, or a lot of this arc to be frank. My schoolwork is getting in the way and I'm not getting the proper time to focus on my writing like I get during the holidays, when I can just write for hours and have a clear, focussed idea. I apologise for the drop of quality that I feel has occurred, and that it has been relatively boring so far, but the last two chapters of this arc will hopefully turn things around with a lot of action and fighting, both Pokemon and human ;) So hang on till the next two parts, which should turned things around! **


	51. Chapter 37: How to P off Kanto in 1 Step

**Chapter Thirty Seven: How to Piss off Kanto in One Very Easy Step**

Screams and sounds of surprise sounded throughout the open room as three jets of fire rose up from each of the generators. Alaska stared in shock, watching as the fire shot up metres into the air and wondered how on earth this could have possibly happened. However, as suddenly as they had appeared, the fire sank back down towards the generators, and it became clear that they were not damaged at all. The stunned reality stars and their shocked Pokemon looked towards a black cylinder on top of each machine, red burning beneath the metal.

"What is this?" Alaska asked, breaking the shocked silence that had arisen since the sudden burst of flames. She turned towards where Amanda was standing with her lips curled up into a smile only a few metres away, the explosion not startling her in the slightest. "Did you do this? Is this part of the challenge?" Amanda glanced over at Alaska, her smile only getting wider at this, and Alaska knew simply from that look that she'd gotten involved in something bigger than she'd expected by agreeing to this challenge.

"Miss Acevedo, we do not reveal the surprises we have planned for our competitions to the contestants," Amanda replied in her most perfectly clipped voice. "I think you should focus on the challenge ahead and see what comes up: Chloe, Damian and Lachlan can handle whatever we set them, so I think you can as well."

"I am sure I can," Alaska replied with a smile wide enough to match the producers, and the two stared at each other with their grinning faces and steely eyed expressions for several seconds, trying to outlast the other. There was no denying the hatred between the two, but Alaska was still trying to work out why the producer dispised her so much: her reactions and attitudes around her hinted that there was more to her rage than simply interrupting a television show, but Alaska couldn't quite figure it out.

Another burst of flames knocked her back into reality, and Alaska turned back towards the scene before her: Paige, Butterfree, Gyarados and Spearow were taking off once more, Nadia, Bellsprout, Charmeleon and Bulbasaur all on their backs. The flames were rising higher than before, forcing the Pokemon to move around to avoid the obstacle, and Alaska was impressed with Paige's quick skill at avoiding becoming roasted.

"Keep up the good work!" Alaska called, watching eagerly as Paige swooped up vertically, Nadia having to dig her claws in to stay tight. Her initial worries and concerns were put aside now that the challenge was properly underway, the Pokemon all flying around trying to avoid the fire that burnt nearby and their competitors. Only Wartortle and Geodude remained on solid ground, and Alaska felt the same feeling of competition and began thinking up a battle strategy that she might have experienced in a gym battle.

"I bet this is pretty intense for a first time," Damian said alongside her. Alaska glanced over and nodded, not wanting to take her eyes off the scene as Paige and Gyarados seemed to tied to reach the walkway. "I wouldn't let it be too overwhelming: sometimes they can be really tough, but than the rest of the time –,"

"I appreciate the help, but in the past week, I've dealt with collapsing bridges, multiple explosions and a brain switching, so I think I can handle whatever this show has to offer," Alaska replied with a sarcastic smile, but instantly felt a touch of guilt as Damian looked affronted. She groaned and clutched her head, trying to ignore the annoying 'bang' the flame cylinders made every time they started up. "I am sorry, I know you're just trying to help, but I am just really annoyed with all that has happened to me lately, and I kind of just want to get this over."

"I can tell," Damian said with a kind smile. "These challenges can get pretty irritating as we do so many, and being thrust into one like this can't really be fun. They get easier over time though."

"Hopefully I never have to experience that," Alaska replied, and Damian laughed. She looked the reality star up and down, staring at his plain blue shirt and denim jeans, and wondered what had sent him down this path. Alaska turned towards Lachlan, who was staring determinedly up at the walkway above, and wondered his motivations as well. Chloe had always seemed like the person likely to become to a front page tabloid darling, and this show was right up her alley, but even after all these meetings, Alaska had no idea what had made Damian and Lachlan join the show.

"Spearow, use Secret Power on Paige, go!" The order rang out through the relatively silent floor, and Alaska was dragged out of her thoughts as she turned around the source of the voice: Chloe was standing with her hands pointed dramatically in the air, the camera crew focussed on her as she gave the order. Once they got the shot they wanted, Chloe turned towards Alaska with the same smile she used whenever she got away with bullying someone at school.

"The little bitch," Alaska hissed, turning away before her anger gave her nemesis any more joy. She looked up at the scene above where the Flying Pokemon were all moving towards the walkway that seemed higher above than she'd expected, and watched in horror as the brown and red feathered Spearow floated towards Paige.

"ROW ROW ROW!" She squawked, and a beam of yellow formed in her open beak. Paige was too focussed on getting up towards the flag before Gyarados did, and had no idea as the attack was fired towards her.

"LOOK OUT!" Alaska cried, but it was too late: the Secret Power struck Paige's tail feathers, exploding and sending her and Nadia spinning up towards the roof. Everyone turned around to have a look at what had happened, and Gyarados and Butterfree stopped moving for a moment, stunned by the attack. Chloe merely laughed, the path now clear for Spearow to go ahead with Bulbasaur.

"Dirty cheating little whore!" Alaska hissed. She couldn't believe that Chloe had just done that, or that she had gotten away with it as Amanda merely stood there smirking to herself, glancing up towards the confused scene above. Any decent gym leader wouldn't let such a sneaky attack go through, nor one so dangerous around the high powered electricity above, and knew that Chloe needed a taste of her own medicine.

"Quick Attack and Poison Sting, go!" Alaska yelled, hoping the two Pokemon were still able to fight. There was no sign of movement near the ceiling, and while Butterfree and Gyarados were moving once more, it was still clear for Spearow to reach the flag first, no one near enough to stop her…

"PIDGEY!" The shrill cry echoed all around, and Alaska silently cheered as white flash high above, and suddenly Paige was rocketing down towards the walkway. Spearow was nearing the flag, Bulbasaur ready to extend a vine and grab it as they passed, and now it was their turn not to notice the attack coming there way.

"OTTO!" Paige yelled as she drove directly into Spearow, smashing the Flying type against the railing as Bulbasaur was thrown off. Nadia leapt off before Bulbasaur had even landed on the path, and instantly purple poisonous stings were being fired from her mouth towards the Seed Pokemon.

"Keep it up!" Alaska shouted. "Take Down Bulbasaur and Aerial Ace Spearow!" Chloe turned angrily towards Alaska and let out an angry cry, but Alaska merely glanced over and smiled back to her. "You're the one that started this, so you'd better be prepared to finish it."

"Oh don't worry, I am!" Chloe hissed. "Bulbasaur use Headbutt, and Spearow counter with your Aerial Ace!" The two sets of Pokemon initiated their attacks, Paige and Spearow flying towards each other with glowing wings while Nadia and Bulbasaur charged towards each other. Alaska looked at the flag lying ignored next to them, but didn't really care about that at the moment: she wanted Chloe to be taught a lesson, and defeating her in her own field would do just that.

"Don't get caught up in this fight again," Damian hissed in Alaska's ear as the three flamethrowers set off again. "If you win this challenge than that will piss them off more than just fighting again."

"I'm not the star of this show, you are," Alaska hissed back, not taking her eyes off her duelling Pokemon. "You win and get whatever the prizes are going to be, and I'll just try and win my own little tournament, alright? Besides, your Pokemon are nearly there anyway," Alaska said, and pointed up to the flag. Gyarados had swooped past the walkway, allowing Charmeleon to leap on to a side clear of any warring Pokemon, and was closely followed by Sandy's Bellsprout.

"Confusion Butterfree!" Sandy called, and Damian gasped as the Butterfly Pokemon swooped down in front of Charmeleon, her eyes glowing pink. Charmeleon halted where he stood and stared around, clearly dazed as to where he was, and allowed Bellsprout to move around with her long, skinny legs moving oddly as she tried to run.

"Great strategy Sandy!" Alaska shouted out, and turned to see her friend smile brightly back to her and give her a thumbs up. Alaska looked back at Damian, who was looking rather annoyed and smirked again. "You have to admit, it was a pretty good idea."

"Possibly," Damian said with an annoyed look in his eyes, but his face softened after a few moments. "We'll just have to try harder than, won't we? Gyarados, keep Butterfree from helping Bellsprout!" The giant flying sea-serpent nodded and swung his long body around, nearly knocking Butterfree out of the sky. The Bug type had to fly quickly out of the way, and was forced to keep moving as Gyarados continued to swing his body around. However, Bellsprout still seemed to have a clear run at getting the flag: Charmeleon was too confused to move, and Alaska and Chloe's Pokemon were fighting too much to notice. Alaska knew that Sandy could do with the boost that would come with winning this challenge.

However, everything changed with a single.

"NOW!" Lachlan suddenly shouted, and all eyes turned towards him. Everyone had forgotten about him and his unmoving Pokemon in all the drama occurring high above, but now everyone watched as Geodude lifted Wartortle's shell into the air, the Turtle Pokemon's head and limbs tucked safely inside, and began to spin around. No one was quite sure what this was going to do, but as Bellsprout reached out towards the brightly coloured flag that lay before him, Geodude stopped spinning and let go.

"Oh my!" Andy gasped dramatically, and this pretty much summed the general reaction up: Wartortle was sent spinning through the air like a rocket, covering a distance in half the time it had taken the Flying Pokemon. Butterfree and Gyarados turned around in shock, and even Paige and Nadia spared a glance as their opponents were left breathless behind them.

"Sprout Bell Bell!" Bellsprout cried happily, unaware of the incoming Pokemon, and happily moved towards the flag with her vine-like arms reaching out to grab it. However, just as she was about to grab it, there was a whoosh and she froze: Wartortle spun over the bar and rose another metre before curving back down. Now all the Pokemon were watching as the Water type came back down to the walkway, head, arms, legs and tail all coming out to help him land perfectly, right next to the flag.

"Tortle War!" Wartortle announced, puffing out the softer part of his chest and smiling at all the other Pokemon, but no one smiled back. It was as if Paige, Nadia, Bulbasaur and Spearow had only just realised they had been so close to the flag this whole time, and it also seemed they were only noticing the other Pokemon around them for the first time as well.

There was a moment of silence, all the Pokemon coming to some degree of halt, nothing moving except for the flag of the wings. Their eyes darted from the flag in between them all to the other Pokemon surrounding them, and they, along with their trainers, tried to think of the most sensible and strategic way to defeat them all and grab that flag.

That moment didn't last long.

"BELL!" Bellsprout shouted angrily, frustrated that her chances of winning had been snatched from right beneath her, and she swung her arms around. A shocked and surprised Wartortle was sent crashing against the railing by the powerful strike, and this seemed to be the call for the other Pokemon to charge forwards as well: Butterfree and Gyarados flew side by side, Charmeleon snapped out of his confusion and took off with glowing silver claws, and Alaska and Chloe's Pokemon took off alongside each other, exchanging more moves as they neared the flag. The jets of flame continued to rise up, but no one paid any attention as they focussed on the scramble of Pokemon on the walkway above.

"Tell your Pokemon to be careful!" Andy cried, staring up at the walkway in horror. "All this commotion could cause it to collapse!" This idea seemed unlikely at first, but a creak and a clang echoed around, and Alaska glanced towards the walls: the metal did seem to be weakening in the middle where all the Pokemon were congregating, the nuts and bolts along the way struggling to hold up their weights.

"The clock is ticking everyone," Amanda called shrilly; "we don't have all day to play this game!" Everyone became tenser as this, trying to think of how to succeed at this challenge, but their thoughts were interrupted as Chloe let an angry screech that rose up in her throat, everyone turning towards her. It was the cry Chloe always used at school on the rare occasions she didn't get her way, and Alaska was pleased to see her get so annoyed.

"Just push them over the sides!" She yelled. "Who cares about their Pokemon, just getting the fricking flag!" Her voice echoed, loud enough to drown out the shouts and cries coming from above, and it was easy for everyone to hear the command.

"Calm down Chloe, it's just a contest!" Lachlan said, rolling his eyes down at Geodude.

"This is more than just a contest!" Chloe snapped, turning towards him with her face screwed up. "I have to win this one whether any of you like it or not, so just back off and let me play it my way! Bulbasaur, Spearow, I DON'T SEE ANY POKEMON FALLING!"

The nine Pokemon on or around the walkway could all hear the shouting, but they were all too focussed on getting the flag to care, with Charmeleon clawing at anyone who came near him, Nadia firing Poison Stings off into the air, and Bellsprout's flailing Vine Whips stopping anyone from getting near. Paige and Spearow were locked in a battle of wings, unwilling to stop until the other was out of the way, and it was clear they were both getting tired from the fighting. Chloe's words were still ringing in their ears, and Spearow was willing to do anything to fufill her master's orders.

"SPEAROOOO!" She cried, knocking Paige backwards behind the railings with an Aerial Ace. The Bird Pokemon flapped her wings furiously, readying to come backwards, and it was then that Spearow noticed what was right in front of them: the wall of cables coming out of the generators, sending electricity all around Kanto. An idea formed in Spearow's mind, and she looked down to where Bulbasaur was, unable to get past an angry Wartortle and his furious Bite.

"Spear Row Row Spearooow!" She cried down to Bulbasaur, and the Seed Pokemon glanced up, a look on his face to show his surprise. "Row Spearow Spearow Spear!" Spearow repeated as Paige swooped around, gathering speed before the final assault. Bulbasaur seemed reluctant, but glanced down at Chloe and saw the determined look on her face.

"Saur Saur Bulba," he replied with a nod, and leapt upwards. Paige wasn't quite sure what she was seeing as she soared down with a Steel Wing, watching as Spearow came out towards her with Bulbasaur on her back. But it was all too late when she, along with the trainers below, realized that Bulbasaur's vines were extending out.

"LOOK OUT!" Alaska shouted, shocked to think that Chloe's Pokemon could be doing what she thought they were about to do.

"OTTO PIDGE PIDGE!" Paige cried desperately and tried to turn around and escape in time. Nadia and Butterfree turned in shock, and Bellsprout stopped thrashing her vines to see what was happening, yet Bulbasaur's only got longer as Spearow took off towards Paige. They wrapped around her, causing her wings to be crushed, and Paige yelled out in pain. Shockwaves rippled throughout the trainers as Sandy, Damian and Lachlan watched the scene unfold in horror, but none of them were as appalled as Alaska, watching as Spearow continued flying and Bulbasaur thrust his vines out, ready to force the Bird Pokemon against the high powered cables. How could anyone do this, how could a Pokemon try something so horrible?

"GYARADOS, GO!" Damian suddenly shouted alongside, and Alaska turned around in surprise to face the trainer, but found Damian ignoring her as he stared up in gritty determination at the scene above, a look of anger across his face she had never seen. Everyone watched as Gyarados charged forwards, covering a lot of ground quickly due to his long body, and floated in front of the cables just as Spearow and Bulbasaur prepared to thrust Paige onto them. Alaska's heart skipped a beat as Gyarados was forced up against the cables instead, letting out an angry roar that forced Bulbasaur to let go: Paige was no longer in danger, unfolding her wings in a pained way as Gyarados took the brunt of the attack instead.

"Thank you," Alaska whispered, and Damian merely nodded in response, casting his angry look over at Chloe. The blonde had remained quiet throughout all of this and refused to look around at the angry trainers on either side of her, merely watching as Spearow flew overhead the walkway, most of the Pokemon still in stunned silence.

However, as most Pokemon came to a halt in shock from what had happened, Wartortle saw this as an opportunity and moved quickly. Bellsprout and Charmeleon were the first to notice as he lunged for the flag, and as Paige and Gyarados moved away from the cables, both hurt from the attempted attack, the Turtle Pokemon grabbed onto the flag and lifted it into the air.

Than the floor collapsed beneath them and the wall exploded next to them.

There was a gasp of shock from everyone, stunned by the sudden change of events. Sandy, Damian and Lachlan watched in horror as about one metre of the walkway swung down, sending Bellsprout, Charmeleon and Wartortle with the flag hurtling to the ground. Nadia had been further away and was merely on the edge, watching as the Pokemon fell below, but she and the airborne Pokemon were thrown as electricity suddenly burst from across the cables. Like with the generators, it seemed at first that something had gone terribly wrong, but Alaska and the others quickly saw this was another one of the reality shows tricks to add excitement to the challenge.

Yet no one saw these tricks as entertaining: orders were quickly unleashed to catch the Pokemon falling through the air or to avoid the bolts of electricity shooting out from. The bolts died down quickly, leaving the only sign of electricity as the whirr from the generators, but the jets of flames were unleashed instead, both traps ready to play havoc with the battle. Alaska was still fuming about what had just happened with Paige, and it was hard to focus on what was happening elsewhere as fury ran throughout her blood: she didn't care at all about the flag that was plummeting towards the ground now. All her attention was on Spearow and Bulbasaur as they remained in the air, and thoughts of how to get back at them.

"Clear the area!" Andy yelled, rushing around in fright as the three Pokemon crashed down towards them, Gyarados and Butterfree moving quickly to catch their team mates. He seemed just as confused as they all were now, something that Alaska didn't find reassuring, and her attention was drawn towards the Pokemon, wondering in the back of her mind who would find three Pokemon plummeting towards a possible death good reality television.

"Geodude, Smack Down!" Lachlan shouted as the walls fired electricity once more, forcing Gyarados and Butterfree to turn around. Alaska had forgotten Lachlan's Geodude remained safely on the ground, and watched as what was basically a rock head leapt up into the air with his hands raised. She had never heard of Smack Down before, and watched in interest as the Rock Head Pokemon greeted the falling Pokemon.

"Geo Geo Dude Dude Geo Geo," Geodude said gruffly, and he smashed his hands against Charmeleon and Wartortle's heads. Brown energy surrounded them as they fell faster towards the ground, and Alaska wondered what sort of attack this was until she saw the two Pokemon land on the ground as if they had only fallen one storey.

"Smack Down is an attack that forces Flying Pokemon to remain grounded for the rest of the battle," Damian explained, back to smirking as he looked at Alaska's horror and confusion. "It is still an attack so they get injured, but I think changing it to this kind of blow would soften it up for them all." Alaska nodded, watching as Bellsprout was sent falling and Geodude moved towards Butterfree and Gyarados, and thought again how a seemingly kind soul had become involved in this type of programme.

"Come on Spearow, don't let them get away!" Chloe yelled angrily, looking up at the sky. Alaska felt the fury rise up again, and while everyone seemed to be focussed on the falling Pokemon that were now beginning to get back up, she turned her attention back towards the walkway where a tired Paige had landed alongside Nadia. Just like how Chloe thought she couldn't lose this, Alaska knew that Chloe and her Pokemon couldn't just get away with the attack. Amanda stood smirking to the side, watching the scene unfold with great delight, and Alaska wanted to make sure the producer learnt a lesson as well. In fact, there were a lot of people that needed to have a lesson taught to them…

"Come on Wartortle, you can do this!" Lachlan called out to his starter, the Water type getting to his feet with the flag in hand, ready to keep on going.

"Bellsprout, stop him!" Sandy yelled. The Flower Pokemon nodded, and her vines shot out again, snatching the flag out of Wartortle's hands and quickly leaping up onto her spindly legs, racing off towards the staircase. Sandy cheered in her delightful way and ran alongside, Lachlan and Wartortle taking off as well with the camera crew not far behind. There were less people around now, and Alaska turned back to her Pokemon, knowing exactly what to do.

"Paige, Nadia," she called, ignoring the others around her and focussing only on her Pokemon. The two glanced over the edge, Paige looking better now that she had rested for a few minutes. "Do you two want to show them how we do things on my team?" Nadia nodded excitedly, eager as always to battle, while Paige shrugged, not overly bothered by whatever happened. "Well sorry Paige, but this one is just for you! I want you to dive down towards the flames using Twister, go!" Paige rolled her eyes, but knew Alaska wasn't going to budge and got to moving.

"What are you doing?" Damian hissed into her ear as Paige took off into the air. "Do you even know what that attack is going to do?" Alaska turned towards Damian with a smirk on her face, glancing towards a breathless looking Andy and a furious Amanda.

"I know exactly what I am doing," Alaska replied sweetly. "I am showing Amanda, Chloe and the rest of them that I am not someone to be messed with: try your little tricks and your twisted little moves, but I am only going to come back from them and show you what I am truly made of." Damian fell silent at this, and Alaska looked back to the air as Paige began to spin around, energy swirling around. "Yo boys," she shouted towards the camera crew that she knew would be following after Sandy and Lachlan, "why don't you catch a sight of this?"

"Stop this at once!" Andy cried, marching forwards but keeping an eye on Paige as the Twister began to take life, coming down towards the cylinder. "This is extremely dangerous and could end you with a very expensive bill for any damages!"

"I know some people that can pay it for me," Alaska said matter-of-factly. She didn't care about the damages or the cost and didn't care how the Power Plant would react, and nor did she really care how Amanda and Chloe would cope with this: she wanted this to end up on camera and get shown around in some way, and she wanted Gideon, Bill, Steven, anyone that she had met to watch it. It was about time they saw what Alaska was properly capable of and why they shouldn't mess with her or try to screw her over, and this was going to show just that.

Silence had fallen throughout the room as all eyes turned towards the spinning purple Twister made of draconian energy, the only sounds coming from the generators that all seemed to be getting noisier and moving around more, almost as if in anticipation or worry for what was to come, and the sparks flying from the wall of cables. Alaska watched with a smile as the tip of the Twister touched the top of the cylinder, hoping that Paige could handle it but knew she had the strength for this, and crossed her fingers that it all came together, watching as the sparks died down…

The result was more impressive than Alaska could had hoped for.

A tornado of pure fire rocketed up into the air only seconds after the wall fell silent once more, red, orange and yellow light casting a warm glow across the entire room. The Twister rose up through the walkway, and Nadia ran out of the way as it began to melt, hot metal dripping onto the ground. Damian grabbed Alaska's shoulder and tugged her away, all the other humans and Pokemon beginning to move as the generator began to smoke from the amount of fire spinning around on top of it. Alaska only glanced around to check on the reactions, pleased by the purely stunned emotions she saw, and was pleased to see it was all being caught on camera. To her the flaming Twister was beautiful, but she knew others would be stunned by it, and Alaska could only hope that it got her message across to Gideon and the 'elites of Kanto' that she had the strength to stand up and fight for herself.

Than the generator exploded before them.

Alaska had had a feeling that this would be a possible outcome, but hadn't really been expecting it when it did happen. It all happened very quickly and suddenly, the Twister seeming to just consume the machine and take away its life. Shards of metal and bits of wiring and machinery were blasted across the room with an echoing bang, but it was really the only sign of any change. Everyone ducked and tried to hide from the bombardment of shards, but Alaska watched transfixed as the cables on the wall began to malfunction as a result, sparks and smoke rising up as if it was all just another trap, and Alaska could only smile to herself at what she was seeing and what she had done, and couldn't be more proud of herself and Paige.

Once Paige came to a halt and the Twister with her, the full extent of the damage became clear: the middle generator was now silent but burning, only half of its original body remaining with flames and smoke dancing up from it once more. The other two were whirring harder than ever as melted metal dripped down from the walkway above, and the cables continued to spark and shoot sparks as they became confused, not quite sure what to do now that their only purpose had been halted.

Yet everyone merely stood there, watching the scene as if the Twister was still going. Alaska savoured the tense silence that had fallen across the scene, and turned towards those that stood around her: everyone, including the technicians that had been working behind, was staring at the melted generator with looks of pure shock and horror, none of them quite sure what had happened. Alaska smiled as she saw the camera was still rolling on the shoulder of the appalled cameraman, while Amanda looked like she was about to faint in shock and explode in anger at the same time. There was a whoosh of wings, and Alaska turned smiling towards Paige as she landed alongside with Nadia on her back, looking exhausted but also wearing a look that read 'Was that what you wanted?'

"You've just cut power to hundreds of homes across Kanto," Andy mumbled, his enthusiasm completely gone in what had to be the worst tour group he had ever taken in the history of his employment. "This is going to cost millions of dollars… I… I… I… I don't even know where to start…" Alaska merely shrugged at no one in particular, turning back towards the generator with the smile on her face getting progressively bigger. This had been a long day full of confusion on top of an even more confusing and exhausting week, and while she savoured being able to sit down for the first time in hours to rest her leg, which she could feel screaming in pain now that her mind was off other matters, Alaska knew that this would definitely send the message she intended to send in the war she had never intended to get roped into.

"If anyone is still interested," Sandy called from behind them all, "Bellsprout got the flag to the top of the stairs first. So… what do we win?"

**A shorter wait, I think, for a longer chapter! Hopefully this one has come together better as it was written closer together, but I understand it may be confusing at the moment and seem a bit random. Stay tuned for Alaska's next blog to get a full explanation about her actions that will hopefully clear things up. One more part of this arc left though, and I am sure you are all going to remember that one for a long time to come ;)**


	52. Chapter 38: I'll Drink to Your Death

**Chapter Thirty Eight: I'll Drink to Your Death**

"Is it just me," Alaska asked as she peered down the list of drinks before her, "but does a strong brandy sound like a mighty swell drink right now… or maybe a scotch… do you know your alcoholic beverages well Sandy?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you know your drinks?" Alaska repeated in a casual tone. "Do you think I should have a brandy or a scotch? Whichever one you choose I'll let you have some of."

"You could order the most expensive bloody bottle on the shelf and pay double the price, the bartender ain't going to serve you," Sandy replied almost bitterly, and Alaska laughed so loudly that anyone sitting nearby turned around, wondering what on earth she was laughing at. Alaska was a bit confused herself as she laughed, a tear coming to her eye, but it had been a long, long day and she was in need of something to take her mind off the throbbing feeling in her leg, the pounding headache she had felt for the last few hours, and the million questions that constantly swum around her brain, never coming to a stop, only gaining in strength and size as more puzzles joined them every day.

"Can I get you two young ladies something?" The bartender appeared rather suddenly in front of them as Alaska's laugh began to die down, though she and Sandy exchanged a look connecting to the handsome man before them.

"There are many things on this list that I would love to drown my sorrows in, but I'd imagine me friend is correct in saying you won't even give me a sip?" Alaska asked, and the bartender shook his head. "That's good, I don't even have the money to pay for any of these anyway. Just a water, I guess."

"You could always ask your mysterious benefactor," Sandy said with a cheeky smile, and Alaska glared over at her friend as the bartender fiddled with some bottles underneath the bar.

"I don't think I can call on whoever it is whenever it fancies me," Alaska said with a narrowed brow. "Fixing a power crisis is something I am sure the 'elites of Kanto' would empty their pockets for, but I highly doubt they'd open their wallets so a thirteen year old can have a brandy." It was Sandy's turn to laugh at this, and she continued to laugh in her joyful way until the bartender returned with two tall glasses of a turquoise green liquid, straws and ice clattering around inside.

"This is tonight's house special," he explained as the girls eyed their new drinks suspiciously. "It is a called the Venusaur, and is basically lemonade, but we've added lime cordial, apple juice and local berries to make it more of a health juice. Everyone gets one free sample, so enjoy!"

"Thanks for the offer," Alaska said, pushing her glass away, "but I am not eating anything that my Pokemon are meant to eat. I'll just have my water tha –,"

"OH MY GOD!" Sandy screamed, making both Alaska and the bartender jump, and Alaska turned around in fright, wondering what had caused the outburst. "THIS TAKES LIKE SUNSHINE!" Sandy said ecstatically, and Alaska watched in surprise and amusement as her blonde hair tipped backwards, the entire drink going down Sandy's throat as if she was dying from dehydration.

"I guess it tastes alright then?" Alaska asked, struggling not to laugh, as Sandy slammed the glass back down on the table with a wide, hyperactive look in her eyes, and she grabbed Alaska's one before the bartender could take it away.

"This is more than good!" Sandy said, pausing to take a long sip of the green drink. "This is some sort of liquid happiness orgasm mouth explosion delight! This is what rich people must drink, and I am going to drink as much as I can!" And she began to drown the drink, Alaska unable to contain herself any longer and began to roar with laughter once more.

"I am glad your enjoying it, even though it's not meant to be that good," the young bartender said timidly, "but the other guests seem to be disturbed, so would you mind keeping it down?" Alaska glanced around to the rest of the bar with a smile still on her face, but the laughter died instantly as she caught the glares coming her way. About twenty other people were in the small bar that sat next to the Route … Pokemon Center, and everyone one of them was throwing Alaska and Sandy a look that could have set all the alcohol on the shelves on fire, and Alaska suddenly felt as if she was a giant target in front of them all, about to have wine and beer glasses thrown at her.

"Don't worry, they aren't angry about the noise," Alaska replied solemnly. She should have known that workers from the power plant might end up here, the bar only a few steps across the road and the only place in the area asides from the Pokemon Center. While she didn't blame them for being furious at her, it still didn't make for a comfortable environment.

"Bartender, bring me another!" Sandy boomed, pushing the two empty glasses forwards and slamming several coins down onto the bar, the metallic ring earning them more glares from the patrons. "AND MAKE IT SNAPPY!"

"And I'll have some ice as well thanks, while you're getting that," Alaska added before turning towards her friend grimly. "You should slow down and calm down a bit there Sandy, there's no need to yell!"

"I have every reason to yell!" Sandy cried, sticking her nose up into the air and wearing a smile on her face. "There is no one here to mock me or make fun of me, so I am going to enjoy being myself! And meself wants some more of that drink! BARTENDER, WHERE IS MY BEVERAGE!" Alaska let out a laugh, watching her friend in an entirely new light. In all that had happened since they had entered the power plant, Alaska would have forgotten the incident in the Diglett Tunnel if it wasn't for her throbbing leg she couldn't put any pressure onto. While the mystery of Suicune saving them lingered on her mind, Alaska preferred to think of how the friendship between her and Sandy had strengthened due to nearly falling off the cliff. They had not had a chance to properly talk about what happened, but Alaska could only see their relationship getting better the more they shared, and having another brain to share all the mental stress was all she could really ask for.

The bartender passed the drink and ice pack over, and Alaska smiled and thanked him, taking the pack and moving to place it across her leg, which she had spread out across several stools. As Alaska turned, the doors to the bar slowly slid open before her, and three people walked in that she hadn't expected to see nor wanted to.

"Oh my god, it's them!" Sandy said, and Alaska turned quickly back around to shush her, but it was too late. "DAMIAN, LACHY, CHLOOOOOEEEEE! HEY! THERE ARE SOME SEATS OVER HERE!" Sandy shouted, banging the bench in front of her enthusiastically and waving dramatically towards them. The bar was rather small, with only around a dozen tables and several booths, the dark wooden walls left entirely bare, so the shouting only drew the duo more attention that Alaska would have liked. She tried to ignore the angry and judgemental looks coming her way as the reality stars turned towards the noise, grim looks falling across the boy's faces as Chloe came to a sudden halt, stone cold anger flashing across her face.

Alaska noticed Damian lean towards the blonde, possibly to try and warn her off making a scene, but Chloe pushed him back, not taking her eyes off Alaska, much like how the piercing blue eyes had not left her following the generator destruction. Alaska's joy over achieving her plan had been short lived as Chloe and Amanda had both stared furiously at her, neither of their eyes leaving her throughout the hour that followed as they remained within the generator room. It had been uncomfortable and unbearable, and Alaska couldn't even muster up a nasty insult to throw back at the two. Even though she didn't want it, their eyes bore through her skin and seemed imprinted in her brain: even when Alaska was pulled aside to talk to someone or tried to find something to distract her, she could still feel their eyes watching her, waiting for her to crack and fall under their spell…

The trio lingered in the doorway for nearly a minute, a minute which Alaska tried to spend watching Sandy down the Venusaur like an addictive drug and order another, feeling the eyes of not just Chloe but Damian, Lachlan, the bartender and everyone else in the bar, waiting to see what was going on and what the next move would be. Alaska couldn't even see if they were going to move or not, but a sudden thumping began to sound behind her, a similar sound to that of a Ponyta trotting across a hard surface. The sound continued for ten more seconds, before coming to a halt as Chloe pulled up the stool right next to Alaska's foot, heaving her high heels up and resting them against the bar.

"We saw the sign for the free samples out front, we'd like to start with those please," Chloe said in her sweetest voice as Damian and Lachlan sat down next to her, though Alaska knew the tone well enough to sense she was trying to hold herself together. She caught the bartender nodding, and he passed Sandy her Venusaur before starting work on the next three.

The general chatter throughout the rest of the bar started up again a few moments later, but at the bar itself things remained silent and tense, the only noise coming from the drinks being mixed together and Sandy greedily guzzling her own. Alaska tried not to look at them, struggled to resist the urge to lash out with her leg and knock Chloe off her stool, but knew ignoring them was the best option. Alaska and Sandy had left the power plant on rather bad terms, and the former would have liked a break before dealing with the 'Indigo Dreams' team again. And thankfully, it seemed as if the trio were as willing to ignore them as well, Chloe most likely trying to make Alaska stew or try to break her while Damian and Lachlan were trying to avoid a scene. Alaska was comfortable with that, and had some more of her water hoping things would stay this way.

If only Alaska had connected Sandy's behaviour to the drink…

"Another one!" Sandy boomed, doing a rather manly voice that cracked as she burst out laughing. "Actually, maybe make it another two so you don't have to make as many trips – even better, make it three!" The bartender placed the star's drinks down before them and quickly collected Sandy's empty glass, and Alaska knew that three pairs of eyes would be following them. Sandy glanced towards the three and clearly noticed they were staring, and Alaska cringed, knowing she should say something but knowing there was no stopping here.

"Is there something on my face?" Sandy asked, her speech slurring slightly as she stared bug eyed at the trio. "Does my dress look a bit funny? Or is it my hair, does it not look clean enough for you television types? No, none of those things? Well then, why don't you quit looking at me then?" She snapped, glaring angrily at the group, and Alaska wished that they had just fallen to the cave floor all those hours ago: at least it would be less painless than this experience.

"I'm surprised to see that producer of yours even let you lot out tonight!" Sandy growled, her rant continuing as she pointed a finger at the group. "Or are you trying to get some extra footage to boost ratings or some crap like that! Don't people on these shows always get drunk and hump whoever is closest to them? This probably isn't the right scene for that sort of scene though, but I am sure there are some crappy little clubs in the next town: why don't you three just piss off over there! BARTENDER, WHERE IS MY BEVERAGE!" Sandy boomed, and she grabbed Alaska's water and tossed it down towards the bartender. It merely splashed onto the floor, and the bartender rolled his eyes at the new mess to clean up. Alaska sighed as well, and she turned towards Sandy to tell her to control herself when a noise came up behind her, stopping her in her tracks: it was a soft giggle, the sort of laugh an immature schoolgirl might use, and Alaska turned slowly around towards the source. Chloe's lips were a shade of hot pink to match the sparkly dress she was wearing, and Alaska stared at them as the laughter passed through her mouth, sounding high and cold across the bar. It was the same mocking, jeering laugh Chloe had used on Alaska and all the other girls when they had been at school, and it was the same laugh Alaska imagined Sandy had had to live through.

"Oh my god, you two can't go anywhere without causing trouble, can you?" Chloe laughed, tipping back on the stool and clutching her chest in fake, overdramatic way. "They should really just lock you both away in the loony bin before you end up killing someone! You two are just the most pathetic creatures I have ever met in my entire life!"

"Chloe," Damian growled warningly, but Chloe waved a hand to silence them as she turned towards the duo, Alaska looking back with fury burning in her eyes.

"Mandy, Andy, Jandy, whatever your name is," Chloe said with false sweetness, focussing on the blonde as she downed her next drink, "I really think you need to grow up and stop with this crazy thing you've got going on. Just between you and me, it's not a very attractive look now, is it? You may have won that challenge today, but if Alaska hadn't been a total bitch and ruined everything, I don't think your Pokemon would have even done very well. I personally think that you should just try acting normal for once, and then maybe your Pokemon might be able to succeed." Chloe gave a sympathetic smile, yet her eyes were dancing with joy at the effect of her words: Sandy was not saying a word, simply staring silently down into her glass as the words washed over. Alaska wanted to comfort her friend, but she couldn't think of a single thing to say. Her mind was clouded with fury at the disgusting way Chloe was acting. It seemed she hadn't truly felt the effects of the power on Alaska's team even after today, and it seemed to Alaska that she needed to be reminded.

"Listen here you stupid little bitch," Alaska said angrily before Chloe could say anything to her, and turned towards her nemesis with rage fuelling her words. "You are nothing more than some washed up little daddy's girl and that is all you are ever going to be. You've acted for years like you are some powerful and bright darling that has the whole world at her fingertips, and I must admit that for a few years I was intimidated by you and the fact your father had the entire school in his pocket. But I now I can see you are nothing more than a weak and stupid tart that isn't going to amount to anything once this show is over. You might as well start practicing standing on table tops cause it's the only way your ever going to make a living once you've blown through daddy's inheritance." Chloe looked as if she had been slapped, and Alaska flashed her a vicious smile as Lachlan and Damian focussed on their drinks, trying hard not to laugh.

"Oh Alaska, you think your so clever, don't you?" Chloe snarled, her eyes narrowed as she glared back at Alaska. "You use your big words and throw insults and witty lines around like you've got them to spare, thinking it makes you so intelligent. But Alaska, I think you are just as stupid as you think I am! You hang around with this crazy fool you call a friend and act as if winning a few battles and blowing a few generators up makes you brilliant, but I think your just using them to cover up that you have no idea what your doing, only winning badges on flukes and simply causing some explosion or nearly killing your opponent whenever you come close to losing! How's that for a physiological analysis?" Chloe pulled a superior look, one Alaska hardly thought she deserved after blundering her last line, but, as much as it pained her to admit, there did seem to be some truth in her words. Alaska would like to mull these over at another point, but right now she couldn't let Chloe know their effects.

"I may not be the smartest person on the planet," Alaska replied icily, "but at least my IQ is bigger than my bra size." Chloe gasped as the bartender snorted into his rags, and Alaska had a feeling this argument was about to go down a slippery slope.

"That's hardly a great achievement!" Chloe spat back acidly. "Those things are more like zits than tits! You've got the sexual appeal of a brick wall, and I can imagine most men would rather go down a port-a-loo than go down on you!"

"Well we all know how many men you've let go down on you!" Alaska shouted back. "Oh the rumours I heard before I left on this journey, and I imagine that all of them are true, you worthless little wh –," but Alaska froze as green liquid was thrown across her face, sending a freezing chill throughout her body as her hair was washed backwards.

"I am not arguing with you anymore Alaska!" Chloe hissed as she slammed her glass back down on the table. "Let's end this, right here right now!" Alaska slowly wiped the Venusaur drink out of her eyes and stared furiously towards Chloe as the blonde stood up, hands outstretched. She was stunned by this, and her eyes clearly showed it as a smile crossed Chloe's face. "Oh yes, hand-to-hand! Let's see how strong you really are when you aren't hiding behind your back!"

In a few years time, Alaska would think back to that moment as she thought about the bad decisions in her life. Having a bar fight in public, dripping wet with a throbbing head and leg, going up against a girl with hot pink nails like razorblades, was not one of the brightest things she had ever done. But at the moment, as Alaska stared at the blonde in fury, thinking back to everything she had ever said and done to her and Sandy, only one decision seemed possible as water soaked through her shirt.

"Fine then," Alaska said with a smile, raising her good leg and instantly lashing out, "we'll play your way." She lowered her sore leg with a groan as Chloe fell backwards, the kick to her stomach sending her sprawling against Damian, thinking for a brief moment that she may have the advantage. But as Alaska grabbed the ice and placed it on the bar, she didn't notice Chloe leap up and lunge forwards until it was too late.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Chloe hissed as she grabbed Alaska by the head and forced her against the bar, digging her fingernails into her face as she did so. Alaska tried to push her off, but Chloe had positioned herself so her body weight was pressing right against Alaska's. One of her hands pushed down against her throat, and Alaska struggled to breathe as a knee was wedged up against her stomach.

"Break about ladies!" The bartender boomed, coming forwards and trying to push them apart.

"No, LET THEM FIGHT!" Sandy yelled again, her speech slurring again for no apparent reason. Damian appeared behind Chloe and tried to pull her off Alaska, but he seemed to get kicked in the legs and was forced to back away for a moment. Alaska stared up at Chloe, eyeing the furious delight in her eyes as she clawed at her face, wondering what had possessed her to take such violent actions. But looking up to her face pointed out an advantage to Alaska she hadn't seen before.

"GOT YOUR NOSE!" She spat, and lunged forwards with her right hand, grabbing Chloe's already injured nose and twisting. Chloe let out a scream so loud that it could have broken glass, and Alaska breathed with relief as the hands were taken off her throat. Her leg already hurt from having pressure put on it, and Alaska decided it was better to end this early than drag it out. Furiously, she shoved Chloe backwards and kicked out with her good leg, striking her in the stomach again and knocking her into Damian.

"Let's stop this now, alright, before it gets ugly!" Damian said, and he tried to grab onto Chloe's arms, but the murderous blonde elbowed him in the eye before running forwards again.

"I'LL STOP WHEN SHE'S DEAD!" Chloe screamed, her hands raised again, but this time Alaska was ready: she grabbed them before they could come across her skin again, feeling blood stream down her face and neck already from the first clawing, and the two became locked in a battle to try and break away from the other one's arms. Chloe pushed Alaska up against the bar again, but it wasn't as effective this time and Alaska was able to knee her a few times.

"FIGHT HER, BEAT HER, CLAW HER, KILL HER!" Sandy chanted only a metre away, banging her fists against the bar as Damian, Lachlan and the bartender tried to force the two warring girls apart, the other patrons merely standing back and watching with interest.

"Can't you control your friend?" Chloe hissed.

"Can't you control your vagina?" Alaska snapped back, and Chloe let out a furious cry, flexing her hands and finally breaking free of Alaska's hold. She forced her hands down and clawed Alaska's arms, but the black haired trainer wasn't going to let her get in again this time and launched back with a punch from each hand. Chloe was knocked backwards again, clutching her lips and eye, leaving Alaska breathless, holding her arms as they began to bleed as well.

"Charmeleon, go!" Damian yelled, and there was a burst of red light between the two girls before they had the chance to see what was going on. The red lizard-like Charmeleon formed before them, the fire dancing menacingly at the end of his tail, and Alaska turned towards Damian as he stood sternly a few metres away.

"This ends right now!" He said in a scolding tone, looking furiously between the two girls. "You are just making giant fools of yourselves and are just damaging the bar and injuring yourselves at the same time! You two can go on hating each other if you have to, but there's no need to keep this fight up!" Alaska glanced over at Chloe as he spoke, knowing that his words were true. She still wanted to teach the bitch the lesson she deserved, but was currently bleeding from several places, had a sore stomach, leg and head, and frankly just wanted to sit down and relax. Chloe didn't look too keen on the idea, still staring at Alaska with a look like a psychotic murder, but there was no chance she could do anything with Damian and his Charmeleon in the way. The two girls nodded, and Damian smiled at them in relief.

If only they had connected Sandy's behaviour to the drink…

"A Charmeleon, eh?" Sandy suddenly boomed behind them, placing another empty Venusaur glass onto the bench and turning to face everyone in the bar, and everyone in the bar turned to face her. Alaska could see instantly that her friend was not too well: slurred speech, struggling to stand up, a weary look across her face. Alaska wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything before the blonde had raised a Great Ball into the air. "Fine choice, Damian McStudly, but not fine enough! I see you Charmeleon, and I raise you an Onix!"

"SANDY, NO!"

"GO FORTH MY ROCK GIANT AND BRING US GLORY!" Sandy boomed, throwing the Great Ball into the air. Alaska tried to leap up and catch it, but her sore leg wouldn't even move, and she could only watch as it spiralled through the air, landing right up against the wall.

Everything changed in a second.

"OOOOOOONNNNNNN!" Onix roared as he formed from the blue light, rising up like some giant explosion that tore through the bar. The patrons screamed and instantly began to flee as the oversized Onix began to form, already crushing tables, bursting through the walls and roof, sending bricks, wood and plaster crashing down. Sandy let out a cheer and asked for another drink as Damian, Lachlan and Charmeleon fled from the confused and flailing Onix. Alaska tried to run in order to avoid being crushed, but her leg seemed unwilling to move, almost as if it had gone 'Nope, this is your punishment' and was now sitting stubbornly in a corner as it waited for Alaska to apologize.

"EVERYONE OUT!" The bartender roared as Onix continued to twist his body in attempts to workout where he was, sending a hanging light shattering to the ground. Alaska looked around and saw that everyone else were already fleeing to the doors, leaving her, Sandy, Damian, Lachlan, Chloe and the bartender along. Her eyes swept across the shaking building, trying to ignore as Sandy demanded another Venusaur, and tried to get across to her bag on the floor to send someone out to stop him. However, she shouldn't have let her guard down, and didn't hear the high heels smashing against the ground until it was too late.

"YOU BITCH!" Chloe screamed, plunging forwards and grabbing Alaska by the throat as she looked up, the distraction Onix caused allowing her to get past Charmeleon. Alaska began to gasp for breathe again as Chloe forced her onto the bar, ignoring the blood flowing from her nose and the bits of ceiling crashing down around them, focussing only on her old classmate beneath her. Alaska could see the anger in her eyes, the shaking building only adding to the power Chloe had over her: Alaska was struggling to breathe, her entire body screaming in pain from the fight, and it felt as if she was going to die. As she struggled to fight back, Alaska could only think that what Chloe had said was true: she had always hidden behind her Pokemon when it came to battling, whether with the reality stars or with Gideon, never truly fighting for herself. And now she seemed to be paying the ultimate price for it…

"You know what," Sandy slurred, Alaska and Chloe's eyes both flicking towards her, "I never fucking liked you!" Alaska couldn't see what was happening due to her position, but heard as the thump and shatter of glass against a hard object, and felt Chloe collapse onto her chest, shards of glass falling onto her skin. "ONIX, WE'VE WON BABY! WE DID IT!"

The rumbling stopped, a curious growl coming up as Onix finally turned towards his trainer, wondering what was going on. Alaska thought it was appropriate considering that Chloe was now knocked out, and shoved the blonde off her chest as her head and leg felt as if she'd just been shot. Chloe rolled onto the rest of the bar, her blonde hair already stained red from the blood coming from her head.

"Sandy, Chloe may be a bitchy little whore, but that doesn't mean you can just beat her over the head with a glass," Alaska said as she slid forwards, moaning in pain as she did so, "what if you had killed her?"

"Oh fuck you; it seemed like a good idea at the time!" Sandy stuttered slurred, and she tried to stand up, a fist raised as if she would hit her. However, Sandy didn't even stand upright before toppling off, unconscious even before she crashed into the wooden floor. Alaska rolled her eyes as she forced herself off the bar, instantly having to collapse into the nearest stool as pain erupted down her leg. She groaned and rubbed her head, placing the icepack that had remained on the bar back on her leg, and turned towards the others. Damian, Lachlan, Charmeleon and the bartender all looked petrified, staring between Alaska, Chloe, Sandy and Onix, not quite sure of what to make of the situation. Alaska glanced around at the bar, noticing that a good amount of the wall, floor and ceiling had been damaged by Onix, who now seemed to be sniffing Sandy curiously, and one part of the wall had been completely knocked through, revealing the rocky mountains outside.

"Look at this place…," the bartender said breathlessly, looking as if he was about to faint. He stared towards the teenagers before him, clearly gobsmacked at what had just happened. "This is going to cost thousands to fix, and I don't have that kind of money!"

"Well you can give the Silph TV the bill for this one," Alaska groaned. "I imagine my kindly benefactor isn't going to open his wallet for this, and I hope you're expecting us to pay when my underage friend here appears to have consumed a large amount of alcohol unwillingly. That's lawsuit material right there my friend," Alaska said, and leaned back against the bar, rubbing her head and wishing that she could just fall asleep and be over with it.

After the day she had had, with legendary Pokemon, falling off cliffs, somehow travelling through solid rock, making a generator explode, fighting her enemy and surviving a collapsing building, Alaska felt like she could do with a rest.

* * *

**I have been waiting to write this cat fight for quite a while now, so I hope that it came together as well as I hoped. I decided to leave an explanation of what happened at the Power Plant to the blog, as I couldn't really fit it in here asides from the subtle hints about the mystery benefactor and Chloe and Amanda glaring. Actions taken in this chapter will be justified in the blog and during the next arc, so don't start hating on some of the stuff that happened :P Its the Blog and Interlude up next in about a week, so see you all then!**


	53. Blog 8: Yesterday Made Me Feel Old

**Blog Eight: Yesterday Made Me Feel Old**

Oh boy… where am I meant to begin?

Readers, have you ever had one of those days where it felt like it would never end? You had to hand it about three assignments, go to all your meetings in one hour, all of your clients seemed to have some sort of problem that needed your urgent attention, grandma fell down the stairs, those sorts of days? Well, imagine having a day where ALL of those things happened, and just when you thought it was over, a bus drove through your front door and ran over your Meowth.

That was my day yesterday.

This is going to be a bit tricky to sum up, once again, so I'll just skim over things.:

- Sandy and I got into an argument, she fell off a bridge, I tried to save her

- We both fell but got saved by magical water that came out of nowhere, and I have feeling that it was Suicune that saved us

- We appeared next to the Power Plant (convenient how we managed to make two destinations in one arc, ain't it?), and unfortunately the reality stars were there, and Chloe McNose-Job was not happy to see me, and Amanda was rather surprised to see me.

- Sandy and I got roped into taking part in one of their competitions, which involved trying to get a flag off a walkway while some generators shot fire at our Pokemon. This wasn't that great of a challenge, but it kind of went a bit OTT when Chloe tried to kill me Pokemon.

- In return, I blew up a generator…. Soz about that guys.

- We were kept inside until the power got restored to half of Kanto, which the technicians seemed to do with a lot of yelling, arguing and glaring angrily at me. Our fabulous tour guide Andy went to get the big boss, who came down sourly and told me the bill had been covered for all the damage except for what the reality show had caused, which went down like cold sick.

- Sandy and I went to drown our sorrows at the bar, yet the reality trio showed up again. Long story short, Chloe and I had the cat fight of the century, Sandy got drunk, her Onix destroyed the bar, than she knocked Chloe out with a glass. I am now covered in plasters and ointment and pumped up with drugs to deal with my leg, which has swollen and hurts like hell, and I may be immobilized for a few days, and once again, I have no clue what the hell is going on.

You may be just as confused as I am. I can imagine some of you are wondering why I blew up one of the generators, which would have plunged many of you into technological darkness, and I myself am left wondering if it was the right thing to do.

However, as I stood there, watching as Amanda Anderson casually let Chloe try and kill Paige and Nadia, something occurred to me. No matter what you do and no matter how you act, there will always be someone that will try and tell you what to do simply to fit in with their own views. Many people have bosses or unions to control them, while CEO's and celebrities are dictated by society's views on how they should act in their positions of power. I have Gideon and those lovely 'Kanto Elites' to boss me around.

Amanda made me realise how much control one person can have on another, and how much they can dictate their lives. If I had ordered for Paige to push Chloe's Bulbasaur and Spearow into the jets of fire they fired at us, I would probably have been reported to the police and be hanging from the gallows around about now if she had their way. In the same way Amanda has her control, the Kanto Elites have a certain control over me: they have forced me into this situation and are keeping me as their one soldier against one psychotic man. Gideon controls me as well, as he is keeping me in this battle and I am beginning to feel obliged to follow him.

But in the same moment that I realized what control they had over me, I realized I can show them a thing or two about it. If they want to try and dictate my journey for me and try and tell me what to do and how to do it, it is about time they see what I am capable of and what I am willing to do. And if Gideon thinks I am some foolish little girl that has gotten involved in something a lot bigger than herself, than he's got another thing coming.

I blew up the generator to show that I have the balls to take this man on, and that if I am going to be the only one stuck in this fight, than I am going to give it all I've got to give.

Other things have been plaguing my thoughts as well. I still don't know if it was Suicune or not, but it did look a lot like him, and I remember seeing the legendary Pokemon appear in Vermilion City. Is there a chance that he is following us? Some of your previous comments confirm that Red does still own him, so why is the Champion sending one of his legendaries after me? And who exactly paid for the damages to be cleared? One moment Sandy and I were sitting at a desk being treated as if we were in quarantine and any technician that came near us would die, and then the next the big boss is kindly escorting us out of the building. Someone did something, and I want to know who, what and why.

And then there was Amanda. When she first saw that I was standing outside the power plant with her stars, she looked as if she had just seen a ghost, and I am starting to get the feeling that that is exactly what she thought I was. I have no proof, but with all the times I've nearly died lately, with exploding tunnels and collapsing bridges, it would be easy that someone could be behind them. Gideon was nearly killed by the GolemBot, so I highly doubt that he had anything to do with something that would have ruined his plans, but I have occasionally been proven wrong, but only when I make my statements in the middle of an alcohol-fuelled boasting binge.

There was just something about the way Amanda looked at me when she first saw us, as if some dark thing from her past she thought had been destroyed had come back to haunt her some more. She had looked so smug during the challenge, thinking I would lose, and that turned to pure anger after I literally blew it apart and then got off without any harm. The boss passed a slip of paper onto Amanda before taking Sandy and I upstairs, and I could tell from her expression that it wasn't good news. Sandy wasn't even given her prize for winning the challenge, something that probably contributed to her drinking later on, and I could sense Amanda giving us murderous looks as we left the generator room, knowing perfectly well that we were getting away and probably knowing who had freed us.

Yesterday was a challenging day. This whole situation I've ended up in is like a jigsaw puzzle that never seems to end: just when you think you have all the pieces, you come across a new piece that changes everything as you try to work out how it fits in. I am merely glad more than ever that I have Sandy and my Pokemon with me on this terrible journey: we are surrounded by vicious and cruel bullies that will do anything to bring us down, and I need my friend more than ever. Sandy has taught me some great lessons in friendship and respect amongst equals, and I know that she is the right person to help me stick up to these bullies.

I will talk again from Lavender Town, hopefully with more answers than questions next time now that I have a new head to help me search through the puzzle pieces and rubble that lay around me.

Cheers my dear readers! Have a drink tonight and make sure you savour its taste: you don't know if it'll be the last thing you ever taste,

Alaska.

P.S. If you lost your power yesterday or your local bar has recently been destroyed in an Onix-related incident, sorry! Blame it on Chloe… I am sure you can find some sort of email address on the Silph TV website, right?


	54. Interlude 7: Anger and Anticipation

**(Note: Coarse/inappropriate language)**

**Interlude Seven: Anger and Anticipation**

Darkness had set across Saffron City, but Buzz Bolton was not staring at his beautiful view for once. His back was turned as he stared angrily at the phone, giving the piece of technology a look so nasty you'd think the phone had done something to personally upset him. His laptop lay at his feet in pieces, broken glass, wires and keys scattered over the carpet. The last thing it had displayed had been the latest blog from Alaska Acevedo, a site Buzz had not expected to be updated again.

His body tensed up as he waited for the phone to ring. Buzz's anger was consuming him, and the fact Amanda had not picked up only increased his rage. In fact, he was furious at her: why hadn't she personally phoned him herself to tell her about Alaska and the Power Plant, rather than leaving his easily frightened assistant to pass on the news. And why were they only learning now that Alaska was alive when the Electrode they planted should have killed her. Too many questions were filling Buzz's head, and the only person with the answers was at the other end of the line.

The second it began to ring Buzz marched over, his feet stomping hard against the ground, and he snatched the phone up before the second ring, already beginning to crush it like a Bug type.

"Hello?" Buzz roared, his usual calm, silky voice being taken over by fury.

"Buzz, y-you need to calm down and let me explain," Amanda replied timidly from the other end, her stutter creeping in once again. Buzz let out a laugh, a loud, short sarcastic sound that he roared into the phone.

"Calm down? You seriously expect me to fucking calm down?" Buzz yelled. "I think that everything is going to plan and we are well on a way to getting our revenge, and then Alice comes in telling me that there's been an accident at the Power Plant. I get sent a $200,000 bill to pay, and if that wasn't bad enough, I hear that whore is back in our lives! WHY ISN'T SHE DEAD!"

"I don't know!" Amanda shouted back, though her voice was still weak. "Our systems show that the Electrode did indeed detonate, so I could only presume –,"

"Oh of course, just _presume_ one of the biggest threats to our plan is dead, that's some great work there," Buzz hissed in angry sarcasm. "I want people to get to the Underground Tunnel and find out everything they can about what happened there, namely being how on earth she managed to escape."

"Yes sir," Amanda responded briskly, trying to compose herself.

"Now, tell me my dear, if she did survive, why weren't we alerted to it earlier?" Buzz growled, sitting down on his desk and staring out to the neon glow of the city but not truly taking the view in. "She has posted a blog since Vermillion City, why weren't we told?"

"I told you, I thought she was dead, I did not bother checking!" Amanda said in defence, but her voice showed she was merely finding excuses. "I-I-I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry Buzz, I should have done better!"

"And if that wasn't bad enough, you let her get involved in our competition?" Buzz said, getting angrier with every syllable as he brushed aside the stuttered apology. "What the fuck were you thinking you stupid woman? We already know she is stronger than our three trainers, so why let her show them up once more, and then let her destroy a fucking generator?"

"Chloe insisted, and I thought it was best to try and hold her up in case I thought of anything," Amanda explained quietly. "Chloe nearly killed her Pidgeotto and Nidoran though, which I think is a positive."

"_A positive_?" Buzz hissed. "A positive would be watching Alaska as she wiped blood and feathers off the floor: _nearly_ is not a positive, make a note of that." He sighed angrily, rubbing his head as he wondered what to do next. "Why didn't you answer earlier?" Buzz asked, thinking it was a simple question, but Amanda suddenly fell silent. He didn't notice at first, but after nearly a minute without a response he picked up on it. "Amanda, I can tell your still there, I can hear your breathing. What happened? TELL ME?" Amanda gulped audibly at the other end, and Buzz growled as he waited for her response.

"I told the kids they could go out and relax for the night, just for a change of p-p-pace," Amanda explained quickly. "I didn't think it would do any harm, but after half an hour I hear sirens outside and go to have a look. It turns out Alaska was there, and –" but Amanda never finished her sentence: Buzz roared into the phone, letting out a murderous, blood curdling cry that would be enough to frighten anyone that heard it. The producer could usually reign his anger in, but today he was losing it: Alaska Acevedo had escaped them too many times and was causing more problems than they had originally anticipated, and he was getting sick of it.

"Make sure that whore bitch is dead by the end of the week!" Buzz yelled back into the phone. "I want her head to hang from my wall, you hear me? BRING ME HER HEAD!" And with that, Buzz grabbed the phone and threw it angrily at the window. The phone shattered into broken black plastic, and the window was now cracked, but Buzz didn't care in the least. He angrily grabbed his desk and flipped it over, sending his contents spilling to the floor and cracking the wood.

For the next hour, Buzz let his anger out. He kicked and punched the wall, knocked over his mother's flax plant and tipped over both of his couches. The scarcely decorated room looked as if a bomb had gone off, but Buzz continued to vent his fury, smashing and throwing his photographs and diplomas around. Each thing he broke, each thing he tipped, each item he destroyed, Buzz imagined Alaska's face breaking into tiny pieces and covering his floor. He stamped down in sick glee, imagining screams of pain sounding around him with each stomp. The metal beneath his Persian skin rang with each furious stomp, and Buzz started to laugh maniacally as he crushed every piece of glass and plastic within sight.

The end of many long years of planning was finally coming to an end. Buzz would soon crush everything else in his path, not just the irritating little girl that constantly got in their way. Buzz would leave her, Oak, Bill, the bloody lot of them to fight things out with Gideon, and it would leave the path clear for him to destroy the world around them.

Buzz laughed at this for many hours yet, the stars and the artificial lights twinkling all behind him, unaware of the sadistic plans unfolding within the Silph Co. Building at that very moment, and the citizens unaware of the dangers that were soon to come…

* * *

The mountains that Alaska had noticed earlier in the day around the Power Plant carried on for miles, their towering peaks and paths of gravel and stone stretching on seemingly for as far as the eye could see. The rocky mountains went down to the very end of Route 10 and carried on around Lavender Town, trapping the small and quiet town permanently by a wall of rock.

At the bottom of the mountains was the hilly and nearly as rocky southern half of Route 10, split off from the top by mountains and the Rock Tunnel that lay between it. A bitter wind blew through here, coming down from the mountains and roaring through towards the town with dust and small rocks in tow.

It was this wind that whipped up Gideon's coat as he stood silently near the mouth of the Rock Tunnel.

He had taken a short time to recover and map out his plans, taking in the reaction from the bombing of Chrono Island and the destruction of Vermilion City. Charred bodies were still being removed from the island, while reports said it could cost up to one billion dollars to repair the city. These reports had made Gideon happy, but he had bigger things to worry about than fret about the past. He waited until Porygon-Z had recovered from the destruction caused, and now was ready to continue his plan.

Gideon stared towards the small, dark town before, the long black coat he wore flapping around him in the breeze. Possibly the biggest part of his plan involved getting a single book that he knew was hidden within the town, and he would stop at nothing to get it.

_Nothing_, Gideon thought to himself as he began to descend the unstable hill before him. _I will tear this town apart if I must: nothing shall prevent me from getting that book._

* * *

_That's what you think_

Charlotte purred to herself as she stared towards the dark hill of Route 10 before her, managing to hear Gideon's thought even from this distance. The wind was threatening to blow the ghost away, but she sat remained still with her legs crossed, hands resting against her knees, sitting on the pitifully small building that now made out Kanto's main Pokemon graveyard.

She knew exactly what the scientist wanted, and she knew exactly how he planned on achieving it. Charlotte had savoured the peace for the past three years, enjoying the time to relax, not sure if it was passing by too slowly or too quickly. Yet another challenge was being forced upon her, and the ghost felt compelled to deal with, whether it fell within her duties or not.

"We shall see Mr Gideon," Charlotte whispered into the night, her lifeless body beginning to descend through the roof, "we shall we how it all works for you in the morning." The ghost decided quickly that she was up for the fight that was surely going to unfold, and decided that three years was far too long.

It was time to save the world again.

* * *

**Rock Tunnel/Lavender Town Arc next. I will hopefully get one chapter up about next week before moving onto Galactic, which will take a while, but there will be more updates from now on as A Wish on Freedom concludes tomorrow(!), giving me more time to focus on 8ES. Also, you may be baffled over Charlotte, but I decided I am not going to give her a detailed introduction every time she first appears in a story, as she already has detailed explanations in Galactic and The First Warriors, and will have detailed ones in future stories as well. There will be some explanation when Alaska first sees her in the next arc, but reading the TFW prologue will shed some light on her before then. **


	55. Chapter 39: The Hungover Games

******Ah, it feels good to be back writing Eight Easy Steps! I have not yet checked how long it has been since the last instalment, but it has certainly been nearly two months! I apologise for the delay, Galactic was held up by school work so it took longer than necessary to finish, but now everything is getting back on track. And we can celebrate the return of 8ES with FIVE chapters in a row, no interruptions! I hope you enjoy the return of our favourite characters, and look forward to things getting exciting!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty Nine: The Hungover Games **

"I think my head is going to explode…"

"Lucky you, I think my entire body is close to collapsing in upon itself, like a fat person that's starting to deflate."

"I would tell you off for that, but I think I might throw up if I say anything."

"Why don't you smash me over the head with a glass, seemed to work –"

"OOOOOONNNNN!"

The roar shook the entire cave, and Alaska and Sandy stopped talking, covering their ears from the booming cry. They watched timidly as Onix swung his long tail around, hoping to send Darwin flying, but the Primeape grasped onto it as it came around and dug his feet into the ground, trying to hold him off.

It was midday… well, at least that's what Alaska guessed. She and Sandy had passed into the Rock Tunnel a few hours ago, and with no light getting in, she could only estimate the time was based on how bored and tired she was. Alaska had woken up with her entire body in pain from her fight with Chloe, despite the medicine she had taken the night before, and she would have liked to have stayed at the Pokemon Center for a little while longer, but it was a wonder that Amanda hadn't slit their throats overnight, and it was best to escape before another confrontation arose. Sandy had decided going to Lavender Town soon would be best, as then they could rest there for a few days out of the way of any reality star that might come after them.

The Rock Tunnel was the same generic cave that Alaska had come to expect from her travels. Wide expanses of dull grey surrounded the duo as they walked in pain, with jagged rocks hanging from the ceiling and sticking out of the ground like teeth, waiting to chew and swallow them up. The only major difference was that the Rock Maze would be a more appropriate title: there seemed to be multiple levels of to the mountain, with some areas only accessible through mouldy ladders or cliffs too steep to climb up normally, to sections blocked by boulders or landslides, and other areas that seemed to stretch on forever. It was impossible for Alaska to get down a ladder with her leg, so they were forced to move down steady slopes or use Onix if necessary to get around. But with no map and no signs telling them the way to Lavender, they were forced to walk around blindly in the semi darkness that the cave was permanently cloaked in, trying to find a way out.

They had decided to stop for a breaking to rest their aching bodies and heads, and sent their Pokemon out to have a try at battling. Paige and Butterfree were fluttering over Darwin and Onix as they battled, and Nadia was showing off her strength to Frances and Bellsprout, neither of whom was willing to battle her.

"At least they seem to be enjoying themselves," Sandy said drearily, rubbing her head for the umpteenth time. Depressed, Hungover Sandy was not as fun as the usual Overly Peepy and Friendly Sandy Alaska was use to, and could only nod along to her friend's slow pace. Sandy had spent half the night throwing up and had been silent with guilt for the other half, though neither of them knew how she had gotten drunk. Alaska had been running over the ingredients in her head, and unless the bar used vodka-infused Cheri Berries in their beverages, she could only guess that someone had spiked it. The only question was who, though Alaska had a few ideas floating around in her head.

"NIDO RAN RAN!" Nadia cried, her voice breaking through Alaska's thoughts, and the trainer watched as her Nidoran ran towards Frances and Bellsprout. The two cried out as the Skull Bash crashed into them, sending the two small Pokemon rolling across the ground.

"Nadia, that isn't the way to treat your team mates and allies!" Alaska scolded, shaking her stick angrily, though it made her feel like an angry old man. "Go and apologise to them!" Nadia looked disgruntled, but she nodded and moved towards the two. Alaska sighed and she sunk back onto the slightly flat rock they were sitting on, and pulled a chocolate muffin she had taken from the Pokemon Center out of her bag. "I should probably start preparing this lot for the next gym battle. I think the closest is Saffron City, right?"

"Right," Sandy said with a nod that made her clutch her head again, "but I really think you should start working on their personalities before you teach them any more moves." Alaska froze, a large chunk of muffin wedged in her mouth, and turned towards her friend. This wasn't the sort of thing she would expect Sandy to say, and wondered what had brought it on.

"Pardon?" Alaska asked politely after swallowing the barely chewed muffin. "What do you mean 'work on their personalities'? Are you saying there is something wrong with my Pokemon or the way I train?"

"No no, nothing like that," Sandy said, sounding exhausted as she spoke, "I just mean… well, look at them! Paige is fine because she's been with you the longest and will follow you to the ends of the earth. But Darwin has some serious anger management problem and seems to take pleasure in disobeying you, Frances is sweet and strong but is afraid of her own shadow, and Nadia seems eager to fight. It's nothing to do with you, it's to do with how they are naturally born. I just think you should work on turning them all into cogs that can work in the same machine, not individual bits that need extra maintenance just to get going.

"Take Nadia for example," Sandy said, pointing at the Nidoran. "She just attacked one of her team mates, but that is probably because she's been in a center for so long she's had no one to play with. She listens to you probably because she is loyal to you for rescuing her, but Nadia still needs to be taught not to be mischievous." Sandy sighed at this point and leaned back against the rock, sipping at a bottle of water as she tended to her hangover. Alaska continued to stare at her in shock, not quite sure she had heard those exact words come out of Sandy's mouth: it seemed her hangover and mood change had given her a spot more intelligence and insight than normal, or maybe this was how she acted whenever she wasn't happy… Alaska wasn't sure, but the words swam around her head as she turned back towards her team. Darwin seemed to be getting quite irritable with the giant Onix as his attacks struggled to hit, and Onix let out low grunts as the Primeape hit with more power than before.

… _but I think your just using them to cover up that you have no idea what your doing, only winning badges on flukes and simply causing some explosion or nearly killing your opponent whenever you come close to losing! _Alaska hadn't thought much about what Chloe had said at the time, but now the words were coming back to her. Was she really prepared to take on more gyms when her Pokemon could not sort out their issues?

"Alright!" Alaska shouted to the Pokemon, and suddenly they all fell silent. Paige and Butterfree fluttered down from the cave roof, while Nadia sat down obediently before Alaska. Frances and Bellsprout nervously made their way over as well, and Onix only had to slightly incline to be involved, though Darwin continued trying to Karate Chop his larger boulders. "DARWIN, YOU TOO!"

"Ape Prime Prime Ape Ape…," Darwin muttered darkly under his breath, and then leapt forwards and landed with a thud next to them all, only startling Frances and Bellsprout more.

"I think that this training session needs a bit more purpose!" Alaska said, smiling down at them all despite wanting to scream from the pain in her body. "So, I want you all to switch things up and focus on developing your moves! Battle someone different, see how it turns out!" The Pokemon looked around at each other, the confusion evident on their faces, and Alaska knew they need something to entice them. "Whichever team does the best will get… half of this muffin, and extra Pokemon food!" She smiled at them, and they smiled back, suddenly enticed.

Alaska relaxed as the battles unfolded before her and Sandy: all the Pokemon began to work well together, using all their moves in a way that tested their skills and put each other on the spot. Paige seemed stunned that Bellsprout was able to hold her off, using Vine Whip to great effect, while Butterfree was having better success with her Special attacks against Frances, but the Paras was quick to fire Bullet Seed and Stun Spore to try and keep her away. Onix was alone, but seemed to enjoy using his attacks to destroy all the rocks in the nearby area, leaving Nadia to face off with Darwin. Alaska had been nervous about this at first, but the two seemed a good match up: Nadia had speed that stopped Darwin laying a single attack on her, yet her attacks weren't strong enough to harm the Primeape just yet. It was a lesson in balancing moves and testing skills, and Alaska was satisfied that it was going well.

"Smart idea," Sandy said alongside, passing over an apple, more food taken from the Pokemon Center. "I think my team needs some training as well, not that we _really_ need it: I am not planning on facing any gym leaders any time soon."

"Why catch more than one Pokemon?" Alaska asked, the question coming out before it had been properly thought over. Alaska paused after the words came out, not sure how to continue, but Sandy was giving her a look and she thought it best to continue. "I just mean… if you aren't battling any gyms, and you are just enjoying yourself like you said, why did you need to catch Onix and Bellsprout?" She knew as she spoke that the words would seem hurtful, and a look crossed Sandy's eyes that proved her right: the blonde stared sadly down at the rock before them, something starting to settle into her eyes that didn't look right…

"Sandy, I –," Alaska began, ready to apologize for being so stupid, but she before she could finish her sentence, a bang echoed throughout the cave. Silence fell as everyone tensed, and then a stalactite exploded several metres away. Sandy, Frances and Bellsprout jumped, and a second bang sounded.

"GET DOWN!" Alaska yelled, and she pushed Sandy forwards as a boulder next to them shattered. The Pokemon began to cry out as they fell to the floor, two more gunshots causing more rocks to break, sending chips of stone hurtling around them. Alaska's back spasmed from landing on the floor, but she had to look up and try and see who was firing at them so they knew how to stop it.

"This is ridiculous!" Alaska hissed. "We're barely five paragraphs into the day and already someone is trying to kill us!"

"Paragraphs?" Sandy asked.

"I meant minutes!" Alaska growled, though she was too annoyed to care what she said: it seemed that her life was on constant replay, every day someone setting out to murder her. She didn't seem to have any control in her life anymore or on what happened, and Alaska was certain that there was someone else out there, sending all these people to murder her just for their entertainment.

"Onix, use Rock Tomb to try and protect us!" Sandy screamed.

"OOONNNNNN!" The Rock Snake roared. He swung his tail around, smashing it into the ground and into boulders nearby, and tossed them all up into the air. They arced over his head as gracefully as if made of paper rather than stone, and than landed, piled high like a pyramid, before them with enough force to send dust trickling from the roof. The gunshots sounded again, but now the Rock Tomb was holding them off, giving them a chance to breathe.

"We need to find an exit and get the hell out of this place!" Alaska shouted, pushing her cane to the ground and trying to get back to her feet. "Paige, Butterfree, you two should fly low and try and find something, and then come back to us as quickly as possible! We'll try and hold this guy off!" A chorus of 'Pidge' and 'Freee' came as a response, and the two friends began to flutter their wings and get ready to move. Alaska turned to watch them leave, hoping that any exit was nearby, but gasped as she saw something coming towards them: a flashlight, moving around rapidly as if the holder was searching for something in particular.

"There's someone else coming!" Alaska whispered to the others, and Sandy let out a nervous whimper. "Darwin, get over their and use Karate Chop!" Darwin nodded, the Primeape eager for some action, and he hopped forwards, fists out and ready to attack. He was just passing Alaska when the gunshots began to sound again, and she looked around nervously to see where they were going. However, a second set of gunshots were being fired, but none of them were coming their way.

"That person is trying to help us!" Sandy gasped intensely in Alaska's ear, pointing at the person with the flashlight: the light was showing the person was firing clearly towards the other shooter, though Alaska wasn't sure if they were both missing or someone was coming to their rescue.

"You lot, get moving!" The person with the flashlight yelled, his voice clearly masculine. There were two flashes of red on either side, illuminating the speaker as being cloaked, his face cast in shadow, and then his Pokemon rose up. Alaska gasped in shock as a Charizard formed only a few metres away, the fire on his tail casting shadows across the dimly lit cave, wings that were wide but torn sending dust and stones hurtling up into the air. The Flame Pokemon roared, and a jet of flame was fired over their heads and towards the shooter.

"Vaporeon Vap Vap Poreee!" Alaska had been so distracted by the sudden appearance of a Charizard that she didn't notice another Pokemon approach them, though she instantly recognized the shimmering blue Pokemon to be Vaporeon, one of Eevee's evolutions. "Vaporeeee, Vap Vapor!" She said, beckoning them forwards with her finned tail, and though Alaska was deeply confused by the past few minutes, she knew getting a move on would be the best idea.

"Come on everyone!" Alaska yelled, and she led them forwards, hobbling after Vaporeon. Paige, Butterfree and Darwin were around her, and she could hear Sandy sticking with the others behind. The Vaporeon skirted behind a large, flat area of land that seemed to have simply risen out of the ground, and the group followed. There was a larger circle of light ahead, and Alaska gasped as she realized it was the exact, right behind them this entire time. She felt stupid, but had more important things to worry about as another Flamethrower lit up the cave.

"Good job Vaporeon, now you need to get them out of here! Charizard and I will join you all in a minute!" Alaska looked towards the speaker, the voice seeming to emit from the shadows, but she realized it was their mysterious saviour, his flashlight now off and his body hidden by the dark clothes he was wearing. Sandy still hadn't joined them, and Alaska wanted to make sure they were alright, but the identity of the person before them was bothering her.

"Excuse me, but who are you exactly?" Alaska hissed as the man made to move. "I don't just blindly follow after people, especially not people with guns and a Charizard that looks like it just battled against some weird Glass Pokemon! Give me one good reason why I should follow after you!" The person turned back towards her, and Alaska could see his eyes staring out at her through the darkness. For some reason, she was expecting him to say some snappy one liner or simply give her a look that showed what he meant, but was stunned when he pulled his gun out and pointed it towards her, leaning closely so she could see his slick smile and black hair hanging messily over his eyes.

"You're going to go after Vaporeon here because my name is Trevor Archer, and I can't save your life or save the world unless you leave right now, and I am prepared to do anything it takes to make that happen," he purred, at the exact moment as a very manly scream echoed around the cave, and Alaska decided in that moment that maybe following Vaporeon wasn't such a bad idea after all.

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed the little jab I wrote in against myself there :P The series is starting to tie in to the wider GalacticVerse now, and if you haven't read The Moral Highground, then feel free to check out Trevor's earlier adventures and see just how he got here ;) **


	56. Chapter 40: An Arrow of Hot and Shock

**Chapter Forty: An Arrow of Hot and Shock**

Without another argument, Alaska made for the door, moving as fast as her busted leg would allow. Trevor Archer's Vaporeon lunged ahead of them, leading the safest path towards the safest exit. Charizard's roar mixed with gunshots behind her, though it sounded very one sided now, and Alaska could only imagine what would happen to the person who fired at them.

A million questions were buzzing around Alaska's head now, though she had no idea what to make of the situation. She knew it would have to be someone connected to Gideon or Amanda, but the big question was the appearance of the mysterious Trevor Archer who had come to their rescue. Alaska had no idea who the man was, having only seen a hint of his face, but he had the general appearance of a quite stereotypical spy. Was he connected to Oak, Bill, Red, someone like that, or did was he someone that just happened to be passing by and decided to save them? But Alaska knew from what he had said that he wasn't just a stranger, and wondered who had sent him after her and how long he had been following.

"Vapor Vap," Vaporeon called as they neared the next. The white sunshine was nearly blinding, and Alaska used her free hand to shield her eyes. The light was turning the stones and boulders around them into glowing spectacles, making them shine with beauty, and Alaska could hear noises that weren't just her echoing footsteps coming from the exit.

"Let's get the hell out of this place and never come back!" She shouted, and Paige, Darwin and Butterfree cheered around her as they rushed across the last stretch of rock and broke out from the darkness and into the light.

Route 10 seemed like the most beautiful thing in the world, even though it looked the same as everywhere else. It was enclosed by sheer cliffs, leaving only a narrow, sloping and unstable path before them. There were only thin patches of grass around, and areas of the path suddenly turned to ledges. Boulders and small rock formations were scattered everywhere, with a large section of jagged rocks nearly splitting the route ahead in two, and a light breeze was whipping dust up into the air. However, the path was empty, and Alaska felt relief that there was a chance of escape.

"Oh my god, can people _please_ stop shooting at us!" Sandy wailed as she burst out of the exit, nearly knocking Alaska over. "One minute, we're having a wonderful time and nothing's going wrong for the first time in days, and the next some random is trying to kill us and another random wants to save us! Can't we just meet some random who just wants to give us tea and biscuits?"

"My mother always told me never to accept anything from strangers: do randoms fall under that category?" Alaska asked with a smile, and Paige giggled as Sandy glared back at her. Charizard roared again behind them, and Alaska turned back, seeing a flash of fire inside the cave that was more like a candle flame than a Flamethrower. Trevor Archer was still a mystery, but Alaska was certain he was on their side, even if his intentions and methods were dodgy: if he wanted them dead, than he easily could have arranged his Vaporeon to attack, but the … Pokemon was sitting calmly a metre away, ignoring Darwin as he danced around her, trying to coax her into battling. Alaska smiled at her, and was thinking about asking her something when she felt a tap on her shoulder, and found Sandy standing right beside her, bloodshot eyes staring intensely at Alaska.

"Should we get a move on before this guy comes back?" She whispered, her eyes flickering towards Vaporeon, and Alaska wondered if Sandy expected the Water type to lunge at them. "He seems just a bit… dodgy…"

"I agree, but he isn't the dodgy guy that's shooting at us," Alaska replied in equally hushed tones, "and I want to know what's going on: if there's another party following us, I want to find out who it is." Sandy sighed and gave a reluctant nod, and Alaska felt sorry for her as her friend backed away: she had never signed up for any of this, and Alaska knew that she was only getting to get more hurt the deeper they got involved in whatever was going on in Kanto. Alaska had anticipated it and could handle the pain, but she wasn't sure if Sandy would be able to cope with it much longer, especially if Alaska lingered on trying to solve the situation.

But all thoughts of Sandy left Alaska's mind as footsteps sounded behind them. Everyone turned as Trevor began to emerge from the darkness, his body beginning to come into shape as the light caught him. He was average height, taller than Alaska but not by a great deal. He was wearing a black coat that hide the rest of his clothing, with a matching fedora hat resting on his head. His hair was black or brown, Alaska couldn't quite tell, but his skin was lightly tanned, the same colour as the dusty road around them.

"Sorry about that, but I am afraid I have to be forceful at times," Trevor said as he approached them, stepping casually over Onix's long tail as it stood in his way. He flashed Alaska and Sandy a smile, and the two girls exchanged silent giggles, unable to control themselves: their mysterious saviour was actually quite handsome, and Alaska felt herself swooning over his perfect smile, shining eyes and toned cheekbones.

"I bet you two are quite confused about all of this," Trevor said, ignoring their obvious attraction as if he got it all the time. "I am sure you will not be surprised to know I have been following you for some time." Sandy gasped, ruining his theory, but Alaska simply felt her giddiness disappear as she gave a brief nod: everyone seemed to be following them around these days, so it seemed no surprise to find someone else had an interest in their lives.

"We've got about a million people watching our every move, so I think I can handle there being a million and one," Alaska replied with a false smile. "My only question is who you are exactly and who you are working for." Trevor smiled back at her, and Alaska wondered if he was trying to break down her defences with his smile.

"You have so many questions, yet you haven't even thanked me for saving your life back there!" He said, and laughed at his own joke, but Alaska merely gave him a steely glare.

"Maybe I'll thank you once I know you aren't truly trying to kill me," she replied, and Trevor stopped laughing, though Paige gave a defiant 'HA!' and stared angrily at him, making Alaska smile slightly. Their saviour sighed, the joy and joking fading away as quickly as it appeared, and when he looked back at Alaska his face had become serious: no smile, no laughter, even his eyes and skin seemed darker and moodier as he stared back at her.

"I can't tell you everything just yet, but I do not work for Gideon, I do not work for anyone involved with Indigo Dreams, and I do not for any 'Kanto Elites', as you so frequently refer to them as," Trevor explained, quickly and seriously. "I work for an organisation that fights for the good of all the regions and the people and Pokemon that live there, but we are separate to other groups such as the Pokemon League, Contest Boards and Pokemon Research Groups. And unfortunately for you, you have become involved in something a lot bigger than anyone you ever anticipated, and it has gotten too far out of control for even us to handle.

"My job is to protect you from the two parties that wish to harm you and to get you to safety. It is in the belief of our organisation that neither group will stop until you have been killed and eliminated as a threat, and that means you must be saved for the future of the Kanto region, and the rest of the world." Trevor stopped talking so abruptly that Alaska did a double take, wondering if something had gone wrong with her hearing. However, Trevor had suddenly turned around, and Alaska looked over to see his Charizard was stomping his way out of the Rock Tunnel. In the light, his scarred and cut wings were more evident, and it was easy to tell that the Flame Pokemon had suffered a tough life. Alaska wondered if this was as a result from Trevor's work with whatever his group was, and didn't feel particularly reassured by this site.

"Did you dispose of him?" Trevor asked once Charizard was outside, and the Fire-Flying type gave a short nod before glaring around at all of the Pokemon. Alaska turned to see all of them cowering slightly in fear, including Darwin, who had stopped dancing and now stood behind Vaporeon in complete shock.

"It is time to move," Trevor said, and at his words, both of his Pokemon suddenly moved: Alaska watched as Vaporeon leapt backwards behind Darwin and began to run down the sloping path ahead of them, and she turned around in time to see Charizard flap his wings, sending dust into everyone's eyes, and take flight into the skies above. "They are going to go ahead and watch us to make sure the path is clear. There is a chance that more people could be working with that man, and we need to be ready in case more people come after us. Please bring back some of your Pokemon and keep the ones that could be most useful when it comes to a first defence."

"Easy enough," Alaska said with a smile, and she brought Darwin back before the Primeape knew what had hit him. She couldn't trust him in a situation like this, and it was best to keep him out of the way. As Sandy brought back Butterfree and Bellsprout, Alaska looked at her three remaining Pokemon. Nadia was sitting loyally beside her, but the small Nidoran would be no match for bullets and explosions. "I know you want to help Nadia, but I think you should sit this one out, is that alright?"

"Ran Nido," she replied with a nod, but something sad appeared in her eyes, and Alaska bent down and pulled her into a hug before sending her back inside her ball. Alaska turned back towards Paige and Frances: keeping the Pidgeotto was obvious, but Frances was cowering slightly on the ground, shaking at the very idea of being kept. Alaska looked down at her sadly, wishing she could be braver, and, thinking of what Sandy had said what seemed like an hour ago, knew what she had to do.

"Come on, your both coming with me," she said, and scooped the pair up. Frances looked petrified, but Alaska smiled warmly and stroked her back. "I know you're scared, but I need you to be strong. I know you're powerful and I know you can defeat any foe that comes your way, so I just need to trust me on this one: you can overcome your fears and be the strongest, bravest Paras there is!" Frances only nodded, though seemed more frightened than ever and burrowed herself into Alaska's free arm. Alaska sighed, but turned back towards Sandy and Trevor, who were talking about Onix as he swivelled around them.

"Ready?" Trevor asked, and both girls, Paige and Onix nodded. "Excellent then. Now, let's head to Lavender Town. There's someone we need to meet before we head on our way."

* * *

**A bit of an uneventful chapter, but its setting up the rest of the very exciting arc, and the next chapter would have been very long otherwise. **


	57. Chapter 41: Smells Like LavenderDeath

**My attempts to make things go quickly have been thwarted by school work, but the next two should come by fast enough**

**Chapter Forty One: It Smells Like Lavender… And Death**

For nearly an hour they made their way down the path towards Lavender Town. Alaska's leg and back felt like shattered glass and she was ready to collapse by the time they made it near the bottom of the slope. They remained in silence the whole way down: Sandy due to her headache that continued to throb, while Trevor seemed to be ignoring them as he led the way, possibly a way to avoid answering any questions. Alaska noticed he had his hands inside his coat, and wondered if they were clasped around weapons, ready to protect them when the time came.

The Pokemon were silent as well: Alaska noticed Frances because the Paras was still cowering in her one good arm, but it was as if the others had disappeared. Charizard and Paige both flown out of sight and Vaporeon had gone so far ahead that she was only a blue blur in the distance. Onix was the only one that remained nearby, circling around them with his body grinding against the ground, but otherwise he made no intentional noise. Alaska sometimes wondered what her Pokemon thought about when they were silent, and she sometimes concluded that they shared the same queries and fears she had about the world.

As they walked, a million different thoughts swirled around inside Alaska's head. So many new questions had formed with very few answers that it was hard to try and think about everything at once: Alaska thought about Gideon, about Amanda and Chloe, Damian and Lachlan, Latios and Suicune, the person that paid for the power plant, the generator explosion, the bar fight, about what Sandy had said, about what Trevor had said. Everything was starting to become quite confusing, and all Alaska truly wanted at the moment was answers to the questions that were remaining floating high above her.

"We will get our first view of Lavender in a second," Trevor called out, shattering the silence so suddenly that it made Alaska, Sandy and Frances all jump, pushing all of Alaska's thoughts from her mind. "You can rest those pretty legs of yours in a minute," Trevor added, staring down at Alaska and then looking back up with a wink and a smile. Sandy turned towards Alaska looked stunned, and mouthed 'Hot' at her before waving a hand against her flustered face. Alaska smiled at this, but she was not attracted to their mysterious saviour: Trevor seemed to have his own agenda, and Alaska was not about to put her trust in someone as seemingly dodgy as him.

But now that he had said it, Alaska was on the lookout for Lavender Town, and as they manoeuvred around a giant boulder resting before them, the town suddenly appeared before them.

Alaska's instant impression was that Lavender was small: it was enclosed by mountain faces and cliffs on all four sides, with only three paths in and out of the simple square of land left. She could see only around three dozen houses scattered around the town, with a Pokemon Center and PokeMart visible in the middle, though even from afar it was clear they were quite small. It wasn't a visually striking town like Cerulean or Vermillion, and the main beauty was the hint of blue ocean that lay to the south.

There were only two buildings there that were different to anything Alaska had seen before, both tucked away in the eastern corner of the town even though they seemed to be the town's centrepieces. One was a long and flat building, only two storeys high and painted lemon. It seemed like it might be the town hall or a conference building, though it was a random place for both things. The second building was far more recognisable, and was one Alaska had actually seen on television: the Kanto Radio Tower was several storeys high and fitted nicely into its corner as if it had been slotted there. The paint job was a dull mix of brown, grey and the same lemony shade of yellow, but it was topped with a giant radio mast that was around the same size of Trevor's Charizard. Alaska rarely listened to the radio, but the building regularly appeared on the news and in magazines, some referring to it as a 'Kanto Icon', though Alaska could only think of it as a bland piece of technology in a fairly old fashioned looking town.

Alaska felt a pang of sorrow for the town as they got nearer to it. It was sheltered from the rest of the region, the sort of place you would only pass through rather than linger in unless you were a travelling trainer. With the cliffs surrounding it, looming over from all sides and casting huge shadows everywhere, it made Alaska think the residents were trapped behind giant stone barriers, something she was becoming all too familiar with.

"I swear my headache is getting worse," Sandy groaned as they began to pass through the northern entrance to the town. "Can we please find somewhere to sit down? I think I might throw up."

"We will go to the Pokemon Center once we have met with my colleague," Trevor responded. Alaska wondered who the colleague was, but her head was starting to hurt as well and decided not to bother with thinking for the time being. She noticed that Vaporeon was now moving alongside Trevor now that they were moving within the town's limits, and Alaska glanced back to check on the other Pokemon. Onix had been forced to move behind them due to the entrance they were taking, and Alaska felt less reassured without his large body protecting them from danger. Paige was flying around his head, and she looked down at Alaska with a face that basically said 'What the hell is going on here?' Alaska shrugged, and Paige rolled her eyes: both of them were confused about what was happening at the moment, and both of them were ready to give up.

"So, have either of you ever been inside the Radio Tower before?" Trevor asked as they began to move to the left and towards the tallest building around for miles. Alaska and Sandy both shook their heads, though Alaska was keeping her eye on the town. It seemed like there might be more houses here than she expected, or possibly left, Alaska couldn't properly tell. The houses all seemed still and silent, no life moving anywhere even though it was midday. Only the breeze moved throughout the town, a breeze that seemed to have followed them down the valley and gotten worse as it moved. Alaska watched as it blew through the only change in colour within the stony walls: rows of pink flowers stood orderly around the lemon coloured building, a beautiful sight in a town so lacking of nature, yet the flowers seemed to be struggling against the wind as if they were nearing the end of life.

"What is that building?" Alaska asked, and suddenly realised that Trevor had been talking, yet she had taken none of his words in, her thoughts of the town her only priority.

"The yellowy one?" Trevor said, turning his head. "It is The House of Memories, a Pokemon graveyard. They wanted to replace the Pokemon Tower, the old one that was destroyed five years ago, but it was seen as too costly for the town and the government at the time and the two storey building was done instead, and the radio station brought the land."

"That building looks happy but sad at the same time," Sandy said, staring towards the graveyard. "Why would they paint a graveyard such a happy colour, and why would you put it in the middle of a town? That is just so sad… I feel sorry for all those poor Pokemon… Wait, what sort of Pokemon are buried there?" Sandy asked suddenly, the tone in her voice suddenly becoming serious.

"Every Pokemon from the Kanto Region ends up here at first, but you can come and collect them to do whatever you want to do with them," Trevor explained. "Now, we're running behind schedule so let's just get a move along, alright?" He headed towards the Radio Tower, the glass doors sliding open as he approached, but Alaska, Sandy and their Pokemon remained where they were. Alaska stared at Sandy as the blonde focussed upon the graveyard. Her eyes began to swell up, her pupils growing as if zoning in on something Alaska hadn't noticed. There was a sadness in them Alaska had never seen, and she wondered what was causing this reaction. She turned towards the graveyard, wondering why such a pitiful place was used to remember long lost Pokemon. A grand tower was what the departed souls of Pokemon needed, not a disrespectful tombstone painted to disguise the death within. It was no wonder Lavender seemed so dead, and she wondered if the graveyard was having this dreary effect on the town.

"Pidge Pidge!" Alaska turned at Paige's cry, but turned into a slap of her wing. She stumbled backwards, struggling to remain upright on her leg, and turned angrily towards her Pokemon. "Pidgey Otto Pidge!" Paige said hysterically, and flew towards the glass doors before Alaska could react. She followed after and saw that Sandy was following quickly after Trevor. Onix and Charizard had apparently gone back inside their PokeBalls, leaving only Paige and Frances out.

"Ready to go inside?" Alaska mumbled to Frances, staring up towards the radio mast, wondering what was waiting for them inside. The Paras merely whimpered in her arms, and Alaska stroked her with her free hand. "I hope it isn't something frightening either," Alaska said, and with a sigh she followed Sandy and Paige through the glass doors.

Whilst she wasn't expecting a lot, Alaska wouldn't have been surprised to see photographers waiting by the elevators as some big music star left the building, with workers trying to move their way past screaming fans, like she had seen in the movies. So she was a bit stunned to find the reception was as empty as the rest of the town: it was very flash, with different coloured glass ornaments on oddly shaped tables, surrounding by curving red chairs that looked more like a geometric puzzle than a seat. A glass reception desk was to the side, surrounded by shelves of awards, gold and silver discs inside glass cases and various photographs. A young blonde woman was answering the phones and glanced up at their arrival, but if she wasn't there, Alaska thought it would be a piece of cake to storm the building.

"Everyone is probably on their lunch break, that'll make things easier," Trevor said, though it seemed more to himself than to them. Alaska noted Vaporeon was still alongside, so it seemed fine for her to keep both her Pokemon out. Trevor kept them moving towards a series of elevators at the end of the hall, and the metal doors slid open to an already waiting lift.

"If you see anyone that I don't speak to first, ignore them," Trevor said once the six of them were inside and the doors had slid closed. The lift began to move straight away, and Alaska felt unpleasant being trapped inside a small metal box with three Pokemon and a mysterious man. She wondered, as always, what his comment meant, but thought it was best to save the questions for later. "If we are in luck, my colleague will be waiting for us and we can get out of here quickly. I don't like being exposed like this."

"How are we exposed?" Alaska scoffed. "You saw the reception, no one was down there!"

"Which means they are either on lunch or all too busy working up here," Trevor hissed back in reply. "Besides, we the fact everyone that wants to kill you can read your blog, don't you think there are other ways people could watch us?" He pointed to the ceiling at this, and Sandy gasped intensely as they spied a camera pointing out from the corner of the lift. Alaska felt even worse to think all of her movements were being tracked, but the lift came to a smooth halt with a light ping above them.

"Stay behind me and move quickly," Trevor said, his hands disappearing back inside his cloak, and he moved as soon as the doors opened. Alaska, Sandy and Paige all exchanged smiles and sighs while Frances quivered between them, and they quickly followed out to see what was going on.

There were more people up here, though none of them seemed to notice or care as the group emerged from the elevator. The people were mostly young to middle aged, their clothing quite casual to match the brightly painted and decorated walls and hallways around them. Laughter emerged from one room quite close to the elevator, and Alaska could see through a window that is a trio of young men, the whiteboard behind them implying there were planning a show. Yet no one was leaping out to try and kill them like Trevor had made it seem, and in fact no one said anything at all. Alaska only caught a second receptionist glancing towards them as she left her desk, but otherwise it was as if they were ghosts moving through the hallways.

"You'd someone would notice a dodgy looking bloke and three Pokemon moving outside their office," Alaska muttered to Paige, who replied with a simple nod, and she began to wonder if something was waiting for them. The fact they were getting so obviously ignored was strange, and Alaska wanted to know what they were getting themselves into.

"Get in here, and be very quiet," Trevor said suddenly, swivelling around and opening up a simple oak door. Vaporeon slid inside first, and Sandy obediently walked in. Alaska knew better than to make a scene, though her eyes met Trevor's as she passed by, trying to find an emotion that would hint at what was inside, but he merely flashed a smile back and followed in after. Alaska grumbled to herself and looked around, though was surprised to see the room only contained a desk and a number of chairs. No one else was in there except for them, and the only strange feature to be found was the fact the walls appeared to be wavy.

"What is this room?" Sandy asked. "These walls look like the ones in movie theatres!"

"Just take a seat," Trevor said, grabbing a remote from the head of the table and pointing it to the wall to the right of the door. It was the only one that didn't look wavy, instead appearing to be made of black glass for the most of it, but at the signal of Trevor's remote, the glass began to shimmer, the colour changing from black to clear. The next room over appeared before them, and Alaska quickly realised it was a radio studio: a large table in the middle of the room had a series of computers and microphones scattered across it, with chairs to seat about four hosts. Only one person was in there, their back facing them with only long brown hair visible.

"Is this your colleague?" Alaska asked, but Trevor only smiled at her as he pressed another button. A whirr and a buzz of static filled the room, but a feminine voice quickly became audible, and Alaska knew it was the person in the next room.

"_Thanks for your call James, and I hope your Torkoal gets better. That was our last question for this week, as we have sadly run out of time. Join me next week for another new broadcast of _Daisy's Tips _where we will be discussing ways to prepare your Pokemon for the Pokeathlon with help from some surprise guests, and I will answer more of your questions. Until next time, remember to treat all your Pokemon with care and consideration and take my advice today to heart! Bye everyone!" _

The woman in the next room took her headphones off as a musical chime began to play, but Trevor turned it off after only a few seconds. Alaska suddenly became on edge: the woman was moving towards a door, and it was likely she would soon be with them. Alaska was expecting answers, and was so worried and excited that she could barely focus, but her head, back and leg were searing with pain, and she made towards the nearest chair, unable to stand much longer.

But as she lowered herself down, the entire building began to shake. Paige squawked and Frances cried out as the building lurched, causing Alaska to miss her chair and collapse to the floor. Sirens began to wail throughout the building and warnings and instructions came across the speakers.

"Fuck, what the hell is going on?" Trevor hissed angrily, and he flung the door open. Alaska couldn't see him go as her back had seized up, leaving her trapped on the floor with a table wobbling right next to her and a Paras quivering on her chest. Shouts sounded from outside, and Paige was flying frantically overhead. Alaska sighed as she shut her eyes, trying to block out the pain spreading through her body: it felt as if she had become paralyzed, and realised with an uncomfortable jolt that she couldn't feel her damaged leg. Alaska should have been worried, but only questions filled her mind as they always did, and somehow they override the pain.

Lavender had been a ghost town when they entered the tower, so what had happened in the past five minutes to change things so drastically?

**Tune in next time for a surprising change in story telling ;)**


	58. Interlude 8: Meanwhile

**Interlude Eight: Meanwhile…**

_Five minutes earlier…_

Charlotte had expected a tough battle, but Gideon was proving a tougher opponent than the norm.

It should have been easy: Charlotte had spent the last two thousand years following after people in silence, sneaking up behind them and only materialising when she wanted to scare them or had them right where she wanted them. The ghost had hidden in the shadows as Gideon entered the home of her fellow departed. Charlotte rarely came in the House of Memories, still disgusted with how horribly the dead Pokemon had been treated, but was able to restrain her anger in order to face off with Gideon.

The scientist was wearing all black, the outfit someone wore when trying to hide something, yet it made them stick out more than anything else. Charlotte waited for several hours until he finally arrived, waiting until he had passed through the entrance before moving into the Hall itself before making after him.

Beyond the doors was a wide expanse of small grey boxes in systematic rows, encased by bright walls the colour of sunshine in attempts to make the mass tomb of thousands of Pokemon seem happy. Gideon's footsteps echoed in the silent and wide room, and they easily masked any noise Charlotte might make as she silently and invisibly followed behind him, a shadow, a shimmer, following each and every step he made. Charlotte could feel the power of her spell book, and knew exactly where it was hidden. The only question now was if Gideon knew the answer, and how he planned on getting it if he did.

Gideon turned suddenly into a row, and Charlotte smiled to herself: he was several rows away from the one where her book was hidden, and was glad that he had gotten things wrong. She waited at the end of the row as Gideon made his way down, pausing around the halfway mark and turning towards a coffin.

_Don't tell me he's here to mourn, _Charlotte thought with an indignant snort. She had never imagined Gideon to have any sort of emotions, and was actually rather amused at the idea. Putting her duty to the side for a moment, Charlotte floated briskly down the row to appear by his side, peering over his shoulder at the little grey box. _Now would be the perfect time to stop him_, Charlotte pondered deviously, and a hundred spells rushed through her mind as she thought of what to do to him. But as she began to settle on one, there was a click, and Charlotte froze as she felt something pass through where her stomach had once been.

"Hello Charlotte. It's been a while," Gideon purred, a slight laugh in his voice. Charlotte gasped to herself, confused and shocked that he had caught her, but before she could do anything else, a blast of energy was fired through her body. Charlotte let out a scream that she couldn't even hear, her body blasted apart like exploding sand, feeling all of her particles moving across the entire hall put unable to control them. Pain seared throughout her, and for a moment Charlotte thought back to the moment when she had died: that pain had been a thousand times more horrible and cruel than this, but this was one of the few things to come close in the past millennium.

Only a few moments later, Charlotte reformed on the ground, a metre away from when she had just been. The grey boxes near her had been tipped over and scattered, causing ash to cover the white tiles beneath her. Gideon remained where he was, but as Charlotte looked up she saw he had turned around to face her: his body was still hiding by his black cloak, but his face stared out at her from beneath a head of oily black hair.

"You'd think that someone that could see all the future had to offer would stop falling for the same tricks over and over again," Gideon hissed at her. Charlotte glared at him for a moment before staring towards the weapon in his hands. It looked like a normal handgun for the most part, but in the barrel was a large glass ball rather than an exit for the bullet, surrounded by a curved glass circle that looked as if it was trying to swallow the ball.

"Like my latest gadget?" Gideon asked. "I heard about what happened to you at Solaceon Town a few years ago, and when I learnt that your book was here, I had a feeling you'd be waiting to protect it and thought I would equip myself. This weapon, as you may have realised, has the power to fire Ghost Energy, and you have successfully proven that it can blow you apart." Gideon laughed to himself, and Charlotte noted how unhinged and deranged it made him seem. She had begun to recover from her attack and was finally able to focus on him: Gideon looked thin and pale, a sickly glow around his skin that made him look almost dead. He had never been overly attractive, but thinking back to when they had last seen each other, Charlotte could clearly note deterioration in his health. But there were more important things for her to focus on right, and Charlotte quickly morphed through the space around them, appearing directly behind Gideon and placing her hands around his head.

"I want to know how you learnt my book was here," she hissed, "and you'd better tell me the truth or I will melt your brain!" Gideon smirked and stepped forwards, spinning around and raising his gun.

"I will simply strike you again if you try and hurt me," he purred. Charlotte stared down at the weapon and began to smile herself.

"You really want to play this game with me?" She laughed. It echoed throughout the hall, and with a click of her fingers it began to magnify and multiply, so it seemed like hundreds of people were laughing at different volumes and tones. Gideon looked around in confusion, and gave Charlotte the opportunity to clap her hands together and push them forwards. The scientist yelled out as a gust of wind blew him backwards, tearing his cloak open and sending him crashing through three rows of deceased Pokemon. Charlotte waved her hands across the piles of ash, and was disgusted at herself for performing such an action, but knew that drastic measures had to be taken against Gideon. The scientist cried out as the ash began to circle around her, engulfing his body and leaving him trapped behind a grey veil.

"I want answers!" Charlotte yelled, keeping a fist in mid air to leave the ash to spin. "How did you learn my book was here, and what do you plan to use it for?" But before she could get an answer, Charlotte noticed a flash of black behind the ash, and quickly spun away. The ash fell to the ground as a black beam was fired, firing off towards the back wall and exploding. Charlotte cursed and spiralled back towards Gideon, who was marching towards her with his gun up high. Charlotte raised both her hands and fired a bolt of electricity to match the Ghost Energy, and the two beams met each other in the middle. A shockwave that resembled a Beedrill was unleashed, and Charlotte was unable to stop herself from being blown backwards as easily as a plastic bag in the wind. The ghost stopped herself before she reached the back wall, but found Gideon had moved forwards, easily stepping over the graves and moving closer to the row where she had hidden the book.

"Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte… it is about time you learnt you are not as clever or as powerful as you'd like to believe," Gideon hissed, his tone a lot darker that it was a minute earlier. Charlotte noted the stained white shirt he was wearing beneath his cloak and his torn pants, and she could only wonder how well his plan was going if he looked like this. "You first hid your precious book in a collapsible tower with the hope it would be taken, only for it to backfire by several times. You thought hiding it in plain sight would be better, but look at how well that worked for you at Pewter. And now you thought you'd combine your plans together: hide it with a spell but in plain sight. Very smart, actually, but the problem with you Charlotte is that you _think _your smarter than you really are. Do you know that your book gives off a special sort of energy, and did you know I kept all my readings around it so I would always be able to find it by simple searching for the right amount of energy?" At this, Gideon pulled a small device that resembled a smart phone, and Charlotte was stunned to see that an intense orange light was flashing across the screen. "This a smaller version of my monitoring program. That light means I am very close to the energy source, and you may notice there are red flickers: this means I am only a few centimetres away."

"Don't even think about it," Charlotte hissed, her hands crackling with lightning. She could see Gideon's eyes turning towards the row where her book was hidden, and the ghost nervously but briefly eyed the exact grave that stood above it. There was no way Gideon would be able to get to it even with magic, but Charlotte would not take any chances.

"Now, onto your second question," Gideon said, stepping forwards and raising his Ghost Gun up, "what am I planning on doing? Again, I expected better from someone that can see the future. Surely you know exactly what I am planning on doing, don't you?" Charlotte gave a reluctant nod, trying to keep him talking while she thought of a plan to stop him. "If you know what I plan on doing, why don't you stop me then?"

"I do not know your entire plan, I only have a broad idea of what you hope to achieve," Charlotte hissed back. "I have a feeling we've had this conversation before, so I am not going to go into details. Just know that I will stop you from achieving it!" Gideon smirked, and he moved forwards again. A large beep began to emit from his scanning device, and Charlotte gasped to see he was already by the right grave.

"We'll see about that Charlotte," the scientist purred, putting his phone away and pointing his gun towards the grave, black energy began to form around the glass ball. "You and Arceus have held the power in this world for far too long. It is about time something turned things around. And before you stop me Charlotte, how exactly would you feel if I upset the balance of your love's world to achieve my goals?" Gideon flashed her smile, and for a second Charlotte was thrown: she had not seen any harm coming to Giratina, not for a few more years, and was horrified at the idea. Unfortunately, the distraction was all Gideon needed. He pulled the trigger, and a black beam was fired towards the grave. It was blown apart, showering the scientist with dust, and the entire House of Memories began to shake. Charlotte quickly recovered, and she knew she had to stop the scientist from getting hold of her book.

"YOU WILL NOT HARM ANYONE!" The ghost roared, and she summoned her own Ghost Energy together into her palms. Without thinking, Charlotte fired a black beam of swirling wind and energy towards the open grave. She expected it to overpower Gideon's feeble weapon, but was stunned when a giant black flash rose out instead. Charlotte had to shut her eyes and shield her ears from a series of ghostly screams out around her, and was then thrust backwards by a powerful explosion. Charlotte altered her form to stop herself being forced to phase through the wall, and felt her body hit the back wall, which seemed to be shaking. A siren began to wail over the screaming, and there was the sound of things falling and crashing that sounded far away, but Charlotte knew it was happy nearby.

The black flash and screams faded after only a few seconds, and Charlotte opened her eyes to a very different world. A crater had formed only a few metres in front of her, and it seemed as if an entire Onix could fit inside. All the graves had been blasted aside, causing grey dust to hang in the air like dull snow. The walls to her left and right now had two large holes in them, and half of the roof had caved in, adding white plaster to the mix of particles hanging in the air. There was a slight rumbling above, and Charlotte could only imagine what damage the mix of Ghost Energy and charms she had placed around her book had done to the cliffs surrounding them.

However, a bigger problem stood before her on the opposite side of the crater: Gideon was smiling at her, covered in dust and looking shaky, but smiling all the same as he clutched a thick, black leather bound book in his pale, bony hands, a book Charlotte had not seen since locking it away three years ago.

"Thank you for helping me out," Gideon sneered, his voice quivering with either shock or excitement. "I knew your magic would be needed to break the spell, but I didn't think you would fall for it. I guess I will see you again when you try and put a stop to me, but I am warning you now: this time, you won't win." Gideon raised a finger to his watch and dramatically jabbed a button, causing it to glow.

"NO!" Charlotte roared, and she fired a ball of black sparks at him. They quickly surrounded Gideon, making him looked pained, but his body began to glow all the same, and with a flash he was gone. Charlotte tipped her head back and screamed, a sound so horrible that any nearby human would be deafened, possibly even killed. More bits of the roof fell down, bringing a series of rocks down with them, and Charlotte angrily sent them flying to the opposite wall. As it was torn apart, the ghost began to think of a plan: her last spell would stop Gideon from getting far, but with his gun it was unlikely she could stop him on her own. Charlotte hated to admit it, but she was going to need help.

And she knew just who to call.

"Alaska Acevedo, it's time you meet your match," Charlotte purred to herself, and she exploded into a cloud of dust that quickly began to settle, falling amongst the ash, plaster and rocks like another dead thing in the world.

**A change in the usual structure seemed necessary for this arc to make sense, so I hope you all enjoyed this little shake up. Again, Charlotte's back story will be best told through Galactic and The First Warriors and won't really be elaborated on during this series, so read them if you want more details on her. And stay tuned for the new story**


	59. Chapter 42: Surprise Around Every Corner

**Chapter Forty Two: A Surprise Around Every Corner**

Just when Alaska thought her day couldn't get any weirder, something materialized above her.

The rumbling had stopped, but the searing pain throughout her body was still unbearable. Alaska was only managing to sit up thanks to Sandy's support. The sirens continued to wail and Paige was squawking at the ceiling irritably, showing her frustration at the sound, while Frances clung to Alaska's shirt in fear. Sandy was trying to say things to Alaska, but the sound was so overpowering that they had to shout to have a conversation, which only made Alaska's head hurt. She wanted nothing more but to get out of this building, but she had a feeling she'd seen Trevor and the brunette woman run past the door, with Vaporeon scuttling out after them, leaving them behind despite all he had promised. Alaska was ready to scream and yell, her day going just as badly as yesterday, when there was an explosion of white dust, and a see through girl appeared above them.

"OH MY GOD, IT'S A GHOST!" Sandy screamed, and she leapt up in fright. Paige cried out as well, falling to the table with a thud as she had been stunned into silence, and even Frances stopped quivering, staring at the ghost with wide, terrified eyes, the presence of a ghost seemingly too much.

"OH MY GOD, IT'S A BLONDE DITZ!" The transparent figure yelled back. "See, it isn't very nice to be judged straight away, is it? I could be here to help you or give you millions of dollars, but you just want to think I'm something scary, don't you?" Sandy simply stared at the girl with wide eyes, and her mouth opened and closed several times as if trying to save something, but than she turned to Alaska and gave her a look, edging her into speaking. But Alaska was just as stunned as her: the ghost of a girl, seemingly only around their age though wearing an old looking dress, was suddenly floating above them, right after what seemed like an earthquake had brought her crashing down. It was just a tad confusing, though, sadly, Alaska was becoming use to overly confusing things.

"Are you here to help us or give us millions of dollars?" Alaska asked, not sure what else to say.

"I have no money, no, though I can steal some if you want," the ghost replied. "Oddly no one has ever asked me to do that, so I usually just do it for fun," she added with a high pitched laugh. "And no, I'm not really here to help you… well, this will help you in the long run, but at the moment it will help me. All I need you to do is come with me and battle Gideon… I believe you know him?"

"I do," Alaska hissed, and her confusion instantly turned to anger. She should have known Gideon would come back to piss her off eventually, but she wished it had been a time that actually suited her. Alaska wanted to end this war she had become embroiled in against her will, but whenever it seemed that Gideon was ready to face off, she was in an unfortunate state. Alaska was just as injured now as she had been at Vermillion, so how would she stop Gideon now?

"We ha-have to w-w-wait for Trevor to come back!" Sandy said, her voice shaking as she tried to stand up to the ghost. The transparent figure turned towards her, for a second looking frightening and mad, but than began to laugh.

"Trevor Archer and his little love pal have already left the building," she replied with a snort. "He thinks he can stop our mad scientist, but he has no idea what Gideon has just gotten his hands on. If you want to live, you need to come with me."

"How can we trust you, we don't even know your name!" Alaska hissed. The ghost looked at her, an almost smug smirk crossing her face. Alaska had the impression that the ghost looked to stay in control, but she wouldn't let another thing, whether living or dead, try and control her life, and she stared back at her with all the fury she could muster.

"You have balls, Alaska Acevedo," the ghost said, smiling in a proud way. "Very few of the girls I've had to deal with have had balls, and I don't think any of them had balls as big as yours."

"This doesn't sound like a compliment."

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," the ghost smirked. "My name is Charlotte, and I am two thousand and twenty seven years old, I think, I've stopped really keeping count. I like long walks on the beach, men that want to settle down, and I hate every single aging dickhead in this region as much as you do. I can give you the answers none of them will give you, and I can give you the knowledge you will need to stop Gideon should he escape today, but we are running out of time to stop him now." Alaska was severely tempted, and a smile crept onto her face, but before she could agree there was a tut alongside, and Alaska turned as Sandy got her feet.

"I am s-s-sorry, but we need to have a q-quick chat… just for a mo," the blonde said with a forced smile before turning to Alaska, the smile fading and being replaced with a mixture of terror and shock. "Alaska, we shouldn't trust her!" Sandy hissed, bending low and whispering, but with her carrying voice it was hardly going to do anything. "She is dead for crying out loud! My mother always taught me never to trust dead people, and she seems the dodgiest of the lot!"

"Why did your mother teach you that exactly? Did you live next to a zombie paradise growing up?"

"Dead people, strangers, same thing!" Sandy scoffed, waving the point away. "The point is why do you suddenly trust this Charlotte? You've known her for five seconds and already you are giving her one of your tricky little evil plan smiles! She may be able to have you fight Gideon, but is that really a good thing?"

"It is the best thing that could happen right now!" Alaska replied, not bothering with keeping her voice quiet and startling Frances. "I want to end this; I want this bloody battle I've gotten involved in over. Gideon has made my life hell and I have no idea why he is still out to get me, but if he wants a fight, than I will give him the fight of his life! Maybe then we can go back to a normal journey where we don't get shot at every day or have something explode near us!"

"To be fair, yesterday's explosion was your fault," Sandy pointed out, but Alaska groaned and turned away to face Paige, hoping for some counsel. The Pidgeotto didn't look happy, but she gave Alaska a grumpy-faced nod, her own way of telling her to go ahead. Alaska felt more reassured and turned towards Charlotte, the dead girl floating above them airily as if she didn't care what happened next.

"I want you to promise you will give me answers once this is over!" She shouted, her tone angrier than she expected. "Plus, for my friend's sake, I want you to give me a reason why I should trust you!" Charlotte smiled at her, and moved forwards so she was directly in her face, dead transparent eyes staring directly into Alaska's with more intensity than anything a real pair had ever given Alaska.

"I promise," the ghost said simply, and she exploded into white dust. Alaska covered her mouth and shut her eyes, but found herself suddenly engulfed in a strange white glow. A blinding pale flash shone through her eyelids, and suddenly Alaska felt weightless as if she was falling through the open air, a feeling similar to what had happened with the water yesterday. Sandy, Paige and Frances were all making noise, and Alaska wondered if they were still near her or had moved far away, unable to tell by their voices as they seemingly fell through the earth.

But barely a second later, Alaska opened her eyes to find herself staring at the Kanto Radio Tower. She was sitting on the lifeless ground in the same position as she had in the room a moment ago, but the world had completely changed. People were running past them towards Route 10, not seeming to notice or care what had just materialized before them, and Alaska preferred this than being stared at by strangers.

"Pidge Pidge Pidge Otto Otto!" Paige squawked overhead, flying frantically around. Alaska looked up and saw she was staring over around, and knew the Pidgeotto was trying to find Gideon.

"Alaska!" Sandy cried out to Alaska's left, and she turned to see the blonde running towards her through the crowd, her lavender dress covered with dust. "Alaska, we need to get out of here before we get trampled!"

"We need to find Charlotte!" Alaska shouted back, but forced herself up to her feet anyway. It wasn't until she had properly straightened up though that Alaska realised that her back was no longer in pain. She pushed both feet into the ground and found there was no pain anywhere in her body: she had gone from lying in agony to a full and proper recovery in barely a minute.

"My leg… my leg doesn't hurt!" Alaska cried to Sandy as she came near. "I'm better! I can walk properly again! Charlotte must have healed me!" She pulled Frances into a tight hug, making the Paras squirm but was not fussed: Alaska could face off with Gideon again, her body back to perfect health, and knew that she had to help Charlotte in return for this great deed.

"That is fantastic Alaska, but we need to get moving!" Sandy yelled, and grabbed Alaska by her right arm and pulled her through the crowd. Alaska cast a glance around, trying to see where Charlotte had gone or if Trevor or Gideon was somewhere nearby, but instead she saw the House of Memories: it looked as if a bomb had gone off inside, destroying large sections of the walls and apparently damaging the cliffs surrounding it, rocks still falling from a sharp gash in the landscape. This explained the rumbling and possibly why a ghost was involved, but Alaska only had to add more questions to her already Harry Potter-length list, wondering what Gideon was doing with the dead.

"Pidgey Otto Otto Pidge!" Paige swooped down, her wings whacking against the head of one of the receptionists but she was unfazed. Alaska pulled Sandy to a stop as Paige hovered above them, her wings flapping furiously and a stunned look on her face.

"Have you seen something?" Alaska asked, and Paige only nodded before flying off towards the next street. Alaska quickly took off, towing Sandy with her, and they pushed through the crowds of startled radio workers. None of them seemed to be running the way Paige was flying, which Alaska didn't see as a reassuring sign, but if Gideon was near than it would at least mean no one would get hurt. Alaska clutched the shaking Frances to her chest, hoping that none of them got injured and wishing that this nightmare would finally end today.

"Pidge Pidge!" Paige cried, stopping and turning towards them, pointing forwards with one wing down a narrow street. Alaska smiled and went to thank her, but a bolt of yellow electricity suddenly shot out from the street. Sandy screamed as Paige was hit, the Pidgeotto glowing as yellow as the sun for several seconds before falling out of range. Alaska ran forwards, nearly dropping Frances to ground as she did so, and managed to catch Paige just before she hit the ground.

"Paige, are you alright?" Alaska shouted, shaking the Flying type despite a level of heat coming off from her. "Paige, can you hear me? Paige? PAIGE!" But the Pidgeotto simply lay in her arms, eyes shut and mouth open. Alaska could feel her heart beating beneath her feathered chest but knew that Paige was out for the count, defeated before the battle had even started. "Thank you for your help today Paige, it's time you had your rest," Alaska said soothingly, and she brought Paige back inside her PokeBall, still stunned at how quickly her closest ally had been destroyed. She turned back towards Sandy with tear filled eyes and pointed towards the street. "We need to stare down there first to see what to expect," she whispered, and Sandy nodded, looking just as shocked. The two girls and Frances poked their heads around the corner of the house right next to them, and found exactly what Alaska had expected.

Trevor and the mysterious brunette colleague of his were standing several metres away, both their backs turned, but Alaska recognized Trevor's coat and his Vaporeon, who stood in a battle position before him with a Blissey standing before the woman. It was instead Gideon that was facing them, a furious, murderous glare in his eyes as he stared towards the two. Alaska became angry just by staring at him, memories of Pewter, Mt Moon and Vermillion rushing back to her, and she wanted to run forwards and hit him with the nearest sharp object. But there was an obvious sickness and shabbiness to the scientist than when they had last met: his clothing was stained and tatty, and Alaska could see his bones sticking through his pale, paper thin skin. He had two Pokemon in front of him: his Electrode, sparks flying off his round surface as he faced off with Vaporeon, and a Pokemon that Alaska had not seen him use before, though it looked like a flying saucer with magnets for hands and a single eye staring blankly out towards Blissey.

"How are we supposed to get involved in this?" Sandy whispered nervously. "That Magnezone is not supposed to look like that, and I bet it used that Electric attack and not Electrode! Gideon is too strong, maybe we should we wait for Trevor to act!"

"I will wait when I die," Alaska hissed back, "and let's just hope that isn't today." She pried Frances from her chest and faced the Paras: the orange Bug type stared back fearfully, her claws wrapped around each other in a defensive way, and Alaska felt sorry for her, but at the same time a touch annoyed. "Frances, I know you are afraid, but you are a powerful Pokemon and need to embrace your strength!" Alaska said, her tone stern in hopes that her Pokemon would listen. "You have defeated a lot of enemies before, so I know that you have the ability to really show your strength today, and I need your power to help me end this once and for all!" Frances stopped shaking, taking the words in, her eyes beginning to stare down as if in shame. Alaska gave her a comforting pat, hoping she would finally show them her power. But before anything else could be said or done, shouts sounded from the street, and Alaska and Sandy looked around again.

"You people still think you can beat me after all these years?" Gideon yelled as Electrode and Vaporeon and Blissey and Magnezone began to fight. "You spies have always been weak and irritating fools that only stand to get in the way! There is nothing you can do to stop me: I will bring this region down to its knees and make you all bow down before me!"

"That is a nice thought, but it isn't going to happen any time soon," Trevor growled. "Ice Beam, now!"

"Egg Bomb Blissey, deflect any attacks that come your way!" The woman cried, her voice familiar from the radio broadcast. The Blissey picked up her egg and threw it towards Magnezone, where it glowed brightly upon impact and exploded. The energy wave shattered a window nearby and made the Steel-Electric type groan in a robotic manner. Cries sounded within the dust, and Sandy gasped as Vaporeon was blasted backwards, crashing into Trevor's legs and falling unconscious at his feet.

"Vaporeon!" Trevor gasped and collapsed to the ground, clutching Vaporeon as she twitched, and Gideon began to laugh, the sound more twisted than it had been before.

"I told you that you were weak, and all you've done is prove my point!" The scientist hissed. He let his cloak fall to the ground and raised his right hand, a handgun clutched within his twig-like fingers. "I should have done this to a spy a long time ago… maybe now you people will get the message!"

"Just try me!" Trevor hissed, jumping back to his feet and pulled his own gun out. The two men pointed their weapons towards each other, a tense silence falling across the battle. Electrode and Magnezone both crackled with electricity and Alaska noticed that Magnezone's sparks were a lot darker, the colour of mustard rather than the bright lemon of the fallen graveyard behind them.

"Give up Gideon, you are never going to win!" The woman yelled, her tone aggressive. "If you even attempt to shoot one of us, Blissey with bring every cliff around this town crashing down on top of you!" Gideon turned the woman and smiled, and Alaska knew from experience that it wasn't a good smile.

"A challenge? You silly girl, you know I always accept my challenges," the scientist sneered, and he pulled the trigger without even looking. Sandy screamed as Trevor was knocked backwards, blood spilling from a wound in his stomach. Alaska was appalled too, but she noticed as Electrode turned towards them, a curious but malicious stare in his eyes.

"He heard you!" Alaska hissed to Sandy, and she pushed her out of the way as Electrode began to glow yellow.

"Egg Bomb Blissey, destroy this little bastard!" The woman yelled, choking back a sob as she looked towards Trevor's unmoving body. Blissey nodded and pulled another egg out of her pouch, but as she began to throw it Magnezone reared forwards, dark sparks circling around its metallic body.

"I was buried under my old workplace for five years," Gideon snarled, his tone not matching the wicked glare in his eye, "and I don't plan on being buried once again. You can try, of course, but I don't think you'll like what Magnezone has to offer. Zap Cannon, NOW!"

"EGG BOMB!" The woman yelled back, and Blissey threw the glowing egg towards Magnezone as a ball of electricity formed between its magnets. The two attacks exploded as they collided, and Alaska jumped out of the way as an electricity-powered shockwave was fired down the length of the road. The house next to them buckled as it was hit, bits of glass and wood flying across, joining the dirt coming from the initial blast.

"I don't like this Alaska; he seems stronger than last time!" Sandy shouted, her face buried in the ground next to her.

"That is wonderful Sandy," Alaska growled, looking up as grey smoke cleared from the explosion. She couldn't see the woman or her Blissey, but Trevor and Vaporeon continued to lie within sight, a pool of blood forming around the apparent spy. "Where the fuck is Charlotte, we need her!" Alaska wondered if this would bring the ghost out, but there was no sign of the mysterious girl, and it seemed they were going to have to go on ahead. "Frances, I want you to use Bullet Seed as a distraction in a few seconds, and then get ready to fight when I call you in, alright?" The Paras nodded nervously, and Alaska felt a sense of pride as she leaped to her feet.

"Wait Alaska, you can't!" Sandy yelled, but Alaska ignored her as charged towards the scene. She wanted to end Gideon and get her journey back on the right path, but with no one else to help her, it seemed she was going to have to be the one to end things.

"PARA!" Frances cried, and Alaska caught a series of green seeds firing down the side of the street. Hoping it would be enough to distract them, Alaska skidded to the ground and came to a stop alongside Trevor, her jeans tearing in the process. Trevor's eyes were shut but he was moaning in a feeble manner, his hands twitching towards his wound. Alaska wanted to do something, but she had no medical experience and could only watch as more blood spurted out.

"Hang in there," she whispered, and grabbed his gun from beside his body. The smoke was clearing now, and Alaska could see that the woman had fallen to the ground, yet her eyes were open and were staring towards Alaska: there was something familiar about her face, which was thin and beautiful, though Alaska couldn't think of where she recognized her from. The woman looked at the gun in Alaska's hand and then back at the trainer, and gave a nod to approve the situation. Alaska nodded back and turned towards Gideon, ready to end this battle, no matter what the cost.

However, the smoke had entirely cleared, and Gideon was standing only a few metres away, pointing his own gun towards her as Electrode and Magnezone flanked him, sparks flying frequently from their smooth bodies.

"Oh deary, do you even know how to use it?" The scientist sneered, staring down at her hands as they clutched onto the weapon. "You need to have a lot of courage and a pretty good reason to fire one of those, and I don't think your pretty little head has properly thought this over. Are you really going to kill me, Alaska Acevedo?"

"I will do whatever it takes to end this!" Alaska hissed back, but she could feel her hands shake, and she wondered if she would actually be able to pull the trigger: she hated Gideon and would love to see him dead, but could she be the one to end his life and live with the consequences? Gideon seemed to see the weakness, and he laughed to himself.

"Just as I suspected," he chuckled. "And to think I thought you were a threat! Well, now that I have my lovely little book, you don't stand a chance of stopping me – none of you do! My plans are in motion, and soon I will be able to destroy this region and get my revenge, and you won't be here to stop me!" Alaska stared towards the gun as Gideon raised it up towards her head, and a million things rushed through her mind at once: the day she had received Paige, the day Freddie had been born, when her father lost his job, leaving on her journey, the first time she met Sandy, her first gym badge, Paige's evolution, capturing Darwin, Frances and Nadia… everything seemed so long ago, and everything seemed so wasted, clouded over by the questions that had plagued her for this entire journey. Had it all been wasted: had Alaska let these battles destroy her journey and distract her from achieving her initial goal? Alaska shut her eyes, waiting for the bullet to come, and wondered what would happen to the world once she was gone…

"PARAAAAAAA!" A scream sounded around them, and Alaska turned and opened her eyes instinctively, fearing for Frances' safety. The Mushroom Pokemon was racing towards the battle, her little legs scuttling as fast as possible while her mushrooms began to glow bright neon green. A ball of the same colour was forming between her claws, and Alaska gasped as she realised what move it was.

"FRANCES, SOLARBEAM, NOW!" Alaska yelled, and jumped out of the way. Gideon looked stunned at the sudden change, and both his Pokemon moved forwards with their bodies glowing yellow, ready to fight back. The scientist turned to face Alaska, who held the gun with more strength than before, and she smiled cheekily at him, daring him to move now. Gideon looked murderous, his entire body shaking with rage, and his right hand clenched around his gun. There was a bang and a small burst of fire, and Alaska turned to follow the path of the bullet: it wasn't aimed at her, and it was too high up for Frances…

"No…," Alaska whispered, knowing the outcome but wishing it wouldn't be true. She turned to face to Sandy and saw a reflection of her own shock on her friend's face: eyes bulged, jaw dropped, a look of pure surprise covering her face. Sandy didn't say a word, but Alaska screamed for the two of them as the blonde collapsed to the ground, her light lavender slowly becoming darker, inch by inch, as the blood flowed from the small hole in her chest…

**A cliffhanger to leave you all with while I do the next The First Warriors. The Lavender arc will be concluded in the next lot of four: look out for the answers we have been waiting for and the fates of our characters**


	60. Chapter 43: Dealing a New Hand

******I hope you are all excited about what will happen after the cliffhanger last time!  
**

**Chapter Forty Three: Dealing a New Hand **

Nothing seemed to make sense anymore… nothing seemed right. Alaska ran forwards, but she felt as if she was falling backwards, a sick feeling knotting itself up in her stomach and sending dark thoughts to her mind. Sandy couldn't be hurt… not Sandy, not when she had done nothing wrong. This had been Alaska's fight, it had always been her battle, her war, whether she wanted it or not it was hers, not Sandy's… but then why was Sandy lying in front of her, why was Sandy the one bleeding and suffering before her… this wasn't right, it wasn't fair… but Alaska could not tell whose fault it really was.

Electricity exploded right next to her, and Alaska paused and stood her ground, letting the attack wash over her. It made her muscles ache, her bones shake and her hair stand up on end, but when Alaska opened her eyes everything was moving normally again, and Sandy was suddenly a lot closer. She sprinted forwards once more as gun fire joined the sounds of Frances duelling with the Electric Pokemon, and Alaska saw that the brunette woman was exchanging gunfire with Gideon. It seemed to be distracting the scientist for now, and Alaska was relieved to have more time to spend with Sandy, and ran the last few metres towards her friend.

Alaska froze as she looked down at Sandy, the full extent of the situation washing over her now that she was this close. Sandy was rapidly going pale, her skin turning milky white, almost as if her skin colour was leaking away through the bullet wound. The wound itself seemed so tiny, barely bigger than a fingernail, yet so much blood had escaped from it, and Alaska could see dark flesh and muscle beneath the broken skin, a sight too unnatural to think about.

"Sandy… no…," Alaska whispered, and she collapsed to her knees and grasped onto her friend's hand, letting Trevor's gun fall to the ground besides her. Sandy was shaking uncontrollably, and she only seemed to notice Alaska now that she was so close: her eyes were wider and more frightened than they had ever been, and Alaska could see the fear etched into her skin. "You'll be alright, I promise… I won't let anything bad happen to you!" Sandy nodded, and then opened her mouth to speak, but only a slight retching sound came out, and Alaska clasped her hand tighter as she felt tears stream down her cheek. Watching her friend's life slip away was too painful, but there was no way Alaska could look away. She had to be here for Sandy and hope that they would be together for longer, but Alaska's fingers brushed against the sticky blood that now soaked Sandy's dress, and she knew that things were not going to end well.

"Try and hang on Sandy, just try! I need you… I don't think I can handle any of this shit if I don't have you to keep me grounded… just promise me you'll stay around, alright… just promise..," Alaska said, struggling to talk through her tears. Sandy looked at her, and gave Alaska what seemed like a nod, but then her eyelids shut. "Sandy, no, don't do this, don't go! SANDY, NO!" Alaska yelled, and tried to shake her friend, unable to think of anything else to do, but she knew in the back of her mind that it was all lost…

"Alaska, get your ass back in there right now!" A voice hissed behind her, and Alaska jumped as she turned and faced the transparent but furious face of Charlotte. The ghost had appeared out of nowhere, though Alaska wondered how long she had actually been there, watching them from the shadows. "Leave her to me, just go back and fight!" Charlotte growled and waved Alaska aside with a careless flick of her wrist. Alaska felt Sandy's hand slip away and tried to hold on, but Charlotte seemed to have control over her body, forcing Alaska back to her feet and turning her away towards the battle. Alaska was furious, both due to the fact the magical ghost was here and hadn't helped earlier and how she was now being shooed away from her friend's own revival. Alaska wanted to give Charlotte a piece of her mind, but when her eyes locked onto Gideon, all her rage went back towards him, and she knew he was the one that deserved to suffer.

"Out of bullets are you Daisy my dear?" Gideon called out, and Alaska looked towards the brunette, who was hopelessly pulling the trigger of her gun but nothing was coming out. "What a pity, I always thought you were quite pretty!" The scientist began to laugh as he raised his gun high, and Alaska looked around for something to save the woman. The only weapon she truly had was Frances, and the little Paras was moving backwards as she charged another Solarbeam, all while Electrode and Magnezone were advancing towards her, about to cross the battlefield.

"Frances, use Metal Claw on your Solarbeam!" Alaska yelled. Gideon turned towards her in shock and instinctively moved his gun towards her, but the damage was already down: Frances' claws glowed silver around the glowing green ball, and Electrode and the strange coloured Magnezone froze in surprise, not sure what would happen.

"PARAAAAAA!" Frances yelled, and she smashed her own attack. A green wave of energy was released, firing out on all sides. Alaska watched as Gideon, his Pokemon and the woman called Daisy were blasted backwards by the beam until the white light of the attack nearly blinded her. Alaska was pushed backwards by remnants of the attack, but as she was standing behind Frances there was little chance of the beam coming back against the Pokemon that made it.

The light disappeared and Alaska blinked several times until her vision was back, and quickly surveyed the scene. Daisy had been knocked over once more, and this time her eyes were shut and she lay limply, reminding Alaska of an unconscious Pokemon at the end of a battle. Electrode and Magnezone seemed to have been hit with most of the blast, flying backwards into the front yard of a nearby house: Electrode was embedded in the ground, only his red side showing, while Magnezone was sparking feebly as he lay on a fence.

"Excellent work Frances," Alaska said with a weak smile and looked down at the Paras. Frances had stopped shaking and was actually smiling, and Alaska could only imagine what a huge confidence boost using this attack was and how happy it would make her feel as a result. She wanted to check on Sandy and see if Charlotte had stopped her yet, but just as Alaska went to turn around something moved in the corner of her eye, and she turned back to see Gideon slowly getting to his feet, seeming dazed from the attack but otherwise unharmed.

"You!" Alaska hissed as she turned to face him. She didn't have a gun, and she knew better than to send a Pokemon in against him, but Alaska was not going to let Gideon get away… not this time, not after what he had done. And without another thought, Alaska began to run. She thought she saw something glow behind her, but didn't pause to check: Gideon was in her crosshairs, and she was going to make him suffer. The scientist didn't even see her coming until she was only a few metres away and he quickly raised his gun, the shock visible across his pale face. But it seemed that Gideon had used up his last bullet, as his gun proved as useless as Daisy's had, and Alaska began to smile as she let out a yell and ran towards him.

"Foolish girl," Gideon hissed, and he swung a fist around. Alaska was caught off guard and allowed it to come across her face, knocking her off balance and gave Gideon the chance to sweep in with a kick to the stomach. Alaska groaned as the air was knocked out of her and she stumbled to the ground in pain.

"Did you really think you could stop me like this?" Gideon sneered as he loomed over her, his face twitching maniacally as he pressed his foot against her stomach. "I can crush you like a bug and there is nothing you can do to stop me, not now that I have my little spells with me!" He began to laugh, the sound distorted and off key, and Alaska wished she had the strength to stop him, but he had knocked it all out of her and she could only stare up at him as blood filled her mouth.

Suddenly green seeds shot out of nowhere, and Gideon cried out as they whacked against his head, forcing him to take his foot off Alaska's stomach. She tried to lunge for him but spasms went through her stomach, leaving her immobile. Gideon gave her one last sneer before scooping a large book off the ground and sprinting down the undamaged parts of the street, down towards a mountain wall.

"Para Para Parasect Para!" A voice said behind her, and Alaska was so distracted by Gideon that she didn't notice the change in words. But a Pokemon appeared next to her, helping Alaska straighten up, and Alaska gasped and had to double take before she recognized who it was.

"Frances?" Alaska asked in shock, and the Pokemon nodded, though it looked nothing like the little Paras: one giant red-orange mushroom with yellow spots covered her larger body, while two giant claws emerged out on either side of her large white eyes. Frances looked strikingly different as a Parasect, but Alaska couldn't be happier and pulled her into a hug.

"Congratulations! I knew you had the power and the courage inside you. It just appears it had to come out in shades of green," Alaska said with a smile, and Frances beamed back up at her before pointing down towards Gideon, who hadn't gotten far just yet. "Good point! You stay here and make sure everyone is alright, and leave Gideon to me."

"Sect Para," Frances said with a nod, and Alaska smiled again before using her tall mushroom to get her back on her feet. Her stomach still hurt but Alaska began sprinting, pushing through the pain as she thought of Sandy behind her, and wondered if the ghost would be able to save her. She focussed entirely on Gideon, not looking at anything else, only following the tatty scientist as he limped towards the mountain wall. There was no way he could escape her now, and Alaska would the savour the moment when she could finally put a stop to him once and for all.

"Until next time Alaska," Gideon suddenly called out, and Alaska was taken aback and nearly stopped running, wondering what he was playing at. But Gideon turned around and smiled at her as he raised his glowing watch up for her to see, and a memory from Pewter City came back to her.

"NO, YOU BASTARD!" Alaska roared and took off once again. Gideon laughed as he body began to glow, and Alaska ran as fast as possible, thinking that maybe she could catch him and teleport away with him, and then kill him in his own territory. The scientist leapt towards the nearest building, and Alaska briefly noted that it appeared to actually be a purple and yellow striped tent before jumping after him. She disappeared through a red velvet curtain and only caught the briefest of flashes before landing on a rug with a painful thud.

"NOOOO!" Alaska roared, and angrily banged her fists on the floor. She had come so close to stopping him that to have it stripped from her at the last moment was so painful that it tore at her heart, and Alaska felt like crying again, as well as finding him and ripping him apart.

"Have you come to my tent to have your fortune read, or do you simply wish to have a tantrum on my floor?" A silky voice asked from above her, and Alaska looked up: the walls and ceiling were draped with crimson red and luscious purple curtains, though very little seemed to be inside. A circular table was directly before her with a high backed wooden chair that Alaska grasped onto in order to pull herself up, and she found the speaker sitting on the opposite side.

The woman had copper coloured skin and seemed to have a glow around her to match, with black hair done up in a bun and a flowing purple dress on that only reminded Alaska of Sandy. Her skin was unlined and undamaged but Alaska could tell the woman was old, possibly in her late fifties, though she wasn't entirely sure why. She had a simple smile on that gave nothing away, though her eyes seemed to be digging into Alaska, drilling her without saying a word.

"I didn't come in here to have my fortune read sorry," Alaska said nervously, afraid to shout at someone like this. "I was just chasing someone in here, but I believe they teleported away, so I'll just… ya know..." The woman nodded without saying a word, flicking a purple backed deck of cards between her hands, and Alaska began to feel unnerved.

"You seem afraid child, don't be," the woman said, her red lips slightly raising into a smile. "I am not a witch or anything: I simply look at my cards and tell you what I believe will come from it." She pulled one card from her deck and turned it the right way up as she placed it on the table, and though apprehensive Alaska peered in to see what it was.

"A sword," she whispered, staring at the simple but beautifully drawn artwork of the classic weapon.

"Indeed, a symbol of a warrior," the woman said with a brief nod. "Tell me, what Pokemon did you start your journey with?"

"A Pidgey called Paige… she's now a Pidgeotto," Alaska replied instantly before wondering how the woman knew she was a trainer.

"And she shall be a Pidgeot by the time you ride her into your final battle," the woman said before picking a second card. This one featured a pair of scales with one higher than the other. "One of my more frequent cards: your life, your quest is riddled with imbalance and you are finding it difficult to manage. You are letting one thing outweigh the other, and the heavier weight is something you do not want, am I correct?" Alaska nodded, thinking of how she was letting this war consume her actual journey so much, and, with a painful thought of Sandy outside, how it was affecting her.

"The next card will be how you can change these weights," the woman said, and placed a card of an old Apricorn ball down on the table, which made the woman smile for some reason. "How funny… it is usually the clients that are not Pokemon trainers who receive this card, which is because the Apricorn, or the PokeBall, represents control rather than Pokemon. In this case, you need to find some level of control, with it is with yourself, you're Pokemon or those around you, which will bring you back to your rightful path and give you the balance you need." Alaska nodded along as usual, though she was more confused by this one: there were so many things out of control that it was hard to actually think of something she could control. She wondered if the fortune teller meant her Pokemon, but the fourth card was already being played, and showed a simple red rose.

"Love and passion, this is what is on the horizon for you," the woman said, glancing up at Alaska for the first time since the reading has begun. Her smile and the look in her eyes seemed almost teasing or mocking, and Alaska froze, clutching the back of the chair with an unnecessary rage. Everything that had happened over the past fifteen minutes came rushing back to her, and anger quickly rose up and began to boil over: Alaska knew the fortune teller didn't deserve it, but she was angry, and someone had to know about it.

"This is probably what you tell every fool that comes in here, isn't it?" She hissed, glaring down at the dark skinned woman. "Any of these things could apply to some bored housewife: she'll win a battle with her children or cleaning or something, her life is imbalanced but she will manage it if she gets a control on things, and her husband will shower her with love. Don't think you can give me the same shit as everyone else, because I am not going to stand here and take this when my friend is dying outside and you are only holding me up!" Alaska pushed the chair aside and turned towards the exit, but was so angry that she couldn't tell which curtains she had come through and furiously wanted to tear them all down. There was the familiar sound of a card being picked up and then placed down behind her, and Alaska paused for a second, waiting to hear what the fortune teller had to say.

"The cracked gravestone," the woman whispered, and Alaska was so surprised by the sudden change in voice and tone that she turned around. The fortune teller seemed to be frowning at a card of a damaged grey gravestone, and Alaska thought she could see fear in the woman's eyes. She suddenly scooped the five cards up and placed them back in her deck, and then looked up at Alaska with wide eyes. "I have not picked up the cracked gravestone in many years. I would watch my back if I was you: I felt the power that man you were chasing had, and if you continue to go after him, it will not end well for you."

"What does that card mean?" Alaska asked, her tone still stony, and she wondered if the woman would ignore her. However, she pulled the card back out from the deck and held it up for Alaska to see.

"The dead will rise before your battle is over, and there is little you can do about it. Go tend to your friend and try to leave this war behind, it clearly isn't for you. But if you must fight, than know that love will be waiting for you and you must find balance before you can win." The woman stood up dramatically, and Alaska turned as she heard the swish of moving curtains, nearly blinded by the light that suddenly filled the dark room. "Go forth, Alaska Acevedo, and make your decision: will you end this war on the battle field or by simply refusing to take part?" Alaska turned back around, half expecting the woman to have disappeared, but she instead found one of the gravest and more serious expressions she had ever seen in her life staring back at her, and all Alaska could do was smile and nod once more before she stepped back out to the street, where she paused and sighed as several new questions found their way onto her never ending list.

_There's some imbalance for you; _Alaska cursed, _the ratio of answers to questions. Maybe I will find control when I actually know what war it is I'm fighting in… _

**The Lavender Arc wraps up in the next part. Remember the fortune teller's words as they will come up again throughout the series. **


	61. Chapter 44: The Discovery Room

**Chapter Forty Four: The Discovery Room**

Alaska was beginning to become quite sick of hospitals. The Lavender Town Medical Center technically wasn't a hospital, but Alaska still got the same vibe as she sat next to Sandy's bed: plain white walls, machines everywhere, the constant beeping from up and down the hallway outside, a strange artificial smell that clung to the air. It only made her think of being injured back in Vermillion City, and Alaska would have gladly left if it wasn't for her friend, lying nearly dead in front of her.

It was still a mystery how it had happened, but Charlotte had managed to extract the bullets from both Sandy and Trevor and heal them up enough so the two still had a fighting chance by the time they reached the hospital. Alaska felt guilty that she had become so distracted with the fortune teller and paced nervously in the waiting room as the doctor's fought to save the two. They required a short amount of surgery to finish what Charlotte had started, but both of them were soon healed, and Alaska had been able to breathe properly for the first time in hours.

Hours had passed since then, and Alaska now sat beside Sandy's overly crisp bed, staring at the slow rise and fall of her friend's chest. The blonde looked completely different in the white hospital gown, her skin still pale despite the blood transfusion she had had, or something like that: Alaska was struggling to stay awake and kept zoning out when the doctor explained what had happened. She heard that Sandy would live and was happy with that, and only got annoyed when the doctor kept talking. It wasn't like she was going to give him a grade or anything for his work.

Even now Alaska was finding it a challenge to keep her eyes open, but she wanted to be there when Sandy woke up, just to make sure everything was alright and her friend wouldn't freak out. She had sent Frances off to collect a hot chocolate or a coffee, preferably something strong and alcoholic, in order to keep her through the long hours to come until Sandy was finally able to awake.

"Hey there." Alaska turned to the door and was surprised to see Daisy standing in the doorway, smiling softly as her eyes darted between Alaska and Sandy. "How is she?"

"She's fine," Alaska replied stonily, noting how Daisy was now walking in without an invitation. "How is Trevor?"

"He is doing well, he woke up about half an hour ago," Daisy explained, moving over to the opposite side of the bed. "He feels terrible about what happened, though he did leave you in the Radio Tower for your protection. He asked me to pass on his best wishes to Sandy and he said he'll come and visit when his strength is up."

"Brilliant," Alaska said, forcing a smile that she figured came out more as a scowl but didn't care either way. She wanted Daisy to go away and leave her alone with her friend and her thoughts, but didn't have the strength to tell her to piss off and could only watch as the brunette settled into the other chair.

"Trevor asked me to come here for another reason," Daisy explained, her voice suddenly going quiet as she stared intently at Sandy. "You see, my name is Daisy Oak, granddaughter to Professor Samuel Oak and the Elite Four member Agatha. I have spent the last six years working for my grandfather and his friend Bill, who I believe you've met. It was through my work as a Pokemon professor that I was first approached by the International Police to assist them with a variety of cases." Alaska's interest suddenly rose and she stared across at Daisy, knowing where this was going. "I have worked with Trevor multiple times, and he recruited me after the incident at Pewter City to help me work out what Gideon was planning."

"Has he been to Viridian Forest or the Underground Tunnel lately?" Alaska asked eagerly, thinking back to the mysterious man in the shadows who had saved her from the killer robots twice. However, Daisy looked confused, and Alaska shook her head. "Never mind… continue."

"Yes… right… well, I have been trying to work out what Gideon is trying to do, but this has become difficult since he is one of the most brilliant minds in the world and as such has all his work protected immensely," Daisy continued. "However, I have begun to build up a theory, and I believe that Gideon is trying to build or steal a fossil machine and plans to resurrect a deadly new breed of the ancient fossil Pokemon."

"That sounds a bit cra – well, now that you mention it…," Alaska said, and she leaned back in her chair and thought back: Gideon had stolen those fossils from Mt Moon, and he had been searching for some sort of fancy equipment at the museum but had to leave due her botching his plans. He had been disappointed by the fossils on display as well, so maybe he was looking for a stronger breed.

"You may have noticed that his Magnezone was a darker colour than usual," Daisy continued. "When Team Rocket first attacked Kanto in 2008 and Johto in 2009, one of their many side plans involved forcing evolution upon Pokemon. This failed spectacularly on a series of Magikarp ate the Lake of Rage in North Johto, but I believe Gideon has worked on creating a better machine to force evolution upon his Pokemon and make them stronger. He would have had to have left his lab in order to evolve his Magneton to Magnezone, or used a proper trading machine to get his Porygon-Z that attacked Vermillion."

"I don't get it though: what does forced evolution have to do with fossils, and what about that book he had when he ran off?" Alaska asked, rubbing her temple slightly.

"I am not sure how everything fits together exactly, but I do know that Giovanni, the former Team Rocket leader, was intent on trying to create the perfect Pokemon," Daisy explained. "Have you ever heard of Mewtwo?" Alaska nodded, having seen a documentary about this mysterious Pokemon a few years ago, but barely knew anything aside from that he was a psychotic experiment gone wrong. "Well, he is Team Rocket's responsibility, a failed attempt to make a brilliant Pokemon that they could control. Maybe Gideon has found a way to combine Fossil Regeneration and Forced Evolution to create perfect Pokemon using Kabutops, Omanstar and Aerodactyl? We can't be certain about anything, and as for Charlotte's spell book, that is just something else to worry and wonder about."

"Wait, that book is a spell book?" Alaska asked, and Daisy gave a brisk nod. "What the hell, why is there a spell book just casually lying around for people to take? And what is up with that bitch of a ghost anyway? She came in and got us to fight for her, and then didn't even join in! Next time I see that little tart I am going to give her a piece of my mind!" Daisy sighed and leaned back in her chair, rolling her eyes at the ceiling.

"Charlotte is a very annoying person to deal with, but there is nothing we can really do about her," she answered in a slight droll as if she was being forced to say these words. "It would take me too long to explain her story to you, but she has been the unwilling and foul tempered servant to Arceus for the last two thousand years, and with that comes a lot of power and knowledge that she is both willing to dish out and hold above us. She would have had a reason for doing what she did, though I cannot tell you I have any grip on what fuels Charlotte's decisions." Alaska nodded, though she still felt angry, and she stared down at Sandy as her fury went through her: it was really Charlotte's fault that Sandy was laying there, a hole through her chest that she had barely survived, and even if the ghost had saved her, Alaska still had every right to be angry with Charlotte… or did she? Alaska groaned and slumped back in her chair: nothing seemed to make sense anymore, and she desperately wanted to sleep the day off so she could probably comprehend the day tomorrow with a fresh mind. How had her journey come down to trying to work out the reasons a ghost had betrayed her, or getting advice from nameless fortune tellers?

"I saw a fortune teller before, when I tried to chase Gideon down," Alaska said, her eyes focused on the ceiling as she thought back to the red velvet tent and the copper skinned woman with all her answers to questions Alaska hadn't asked. "She told me the dead would rise before my battle is over. Do you think she means the fossils?"

"Who knows anymore," Daisy answered unhelpfully. "Nothing has made sense to me over these last five years. I have witnessed multiple groups try to destroy the world, and even after having three years of near peace, I still have no idea what would have truly driven those men to act, just like how I have no idea why Gideon is doing all of this. Why did he destroy Vermillion City like that? What does he need Charlotte's spell book for? Frankly, I want to put my feet up and relax, but Trevor said that once he and Sandy have recovered that we are to escort you to friends of ours in Celadon where we will have a chance to relax."

"That will be nice," Alaska said wearily. Another thought suddenly occurred to her, and while Alaska really wanted to sleep, she had to ask it now while she had the chance. "Are you aware how we have been attacked by robots, and some crazed gunman tried to kill us this morning?" She asked, glancing at Daisy, who nodded back. "Do you have any idea who might be behind that?" Daisy looked sadly back at Alaska, and the trainer thought there was something odd about this particular look, a look that didn't seem quite the right response to this question.

"I am afraid we do not know," she said with a voice to match her expression. "We can tell you though that it does not seem like something Gideon would waste his resources on, when he has other methods of defeating you that are much more direct and reliable. We are looking into it, just like we are looking into the producers behind your favourite TV show, and if something comes up I will let you know." Daisy had smiled when she mentioned the reality show, and Alaska smiled briefly at the joke, though was disappointed that she didn't have an answer.

There was a sudden beep right next to her, and Alaska turned in shock: Sandy's heart monitor had suddenly changed from the same tune it had been playing for the past two hours, and Alaska instantly had dark thoughts. However, Sandy's right hand began to twitch, and her eyelids slowly began to flicker.

"Sandy, can you hear me? Are you alright, are you in any pain?" Alaska asked instantly, clutching her hand's friend, just like she had back on the road. Daisy rushed outside and called for a nurse as Sandy let out a little groan and turned her head slowly towards Alaska, somehow looking more pained and sadder than she had while asleep, but Alaska was too overjoyed to see her friend's eyes open once again to care.

"A…. las…. ka… what's… go… ing… on?" Sandy asked, her voice sounded hoarse, making it seem that she had just aged rapidly in the past few hours. Alaska smiled down at her as her eyes became watery, and she clutched her hand even tighter.

_I wish I knew Sandy, I wish I knew,_ Alaska thought, and as the doctor and several nurses came rushing in to check on and pushed Alaska aside, she could only speculate about what the answer could be. Maybe as they all recovered Alaska would be able to discover more answers and finally solve some of her questions. But all Alaska knew for certain was that she had earned a week off, and while Sandy healed, she would finally give her mind a chance to rest and hope it could fully recover through all it was going through.

**Blog and interlude double up next! Anyone have theories on what Gideon might truly be planning? Are you relieved Sandy is going to live? Did this part clear up some stuff for you or are you still confused? I also feel that some people may wonder what the purpose was of Sandy getting shot. I can promise that the blog and interlude will shed some light on it, and the effects of the incident will affect the story as a whole rather than become suddenly clear. I can promise it wasn't some cheap gimmick or anything like that.**


	62. Blog 9: Ghost of my Former Self

**Blog Nine: Ghost of my Former Self**

Another long day, another painful lesson: welcome, my dear readers, to another look into my increasingly insane life

I hope you all had a nice day. Went and saw a movie, had a really nice meal, maybe got down to some kinky stuff in the bedroom: I don't care what happened, as long as someone out there had a good day. For all of those that had a bad day, feel free to throw some virtual rotten fruit at that person and mock them for such a dull, enjoyable life.

However, none of you will be able to top the horrible day I had yesterday. I can't tell you everything that happened, as I fear that black cloaked men would appear at the end of the corridor and ask to escort me into a dark alleyway where no one will hear the gunshot, but I can tell you that I am currently sitting in a hospital in Lavender Town, watching as Sandy slowly recovers from a gunshot wound to the chest, only a few hours after some random stranger shot us and a few minutes after a graveyard exploded.

I can hear your collective gasping from here! Yes, just when you thought my journey couldn't get even more screwed up; Sandy gets shot, as if we're suddenly in some bad cable cop drama trying to get ratings in its midseason finale. And before people start worrying and making god awful memorial Photoshop's, Sandy is going to live… just. If this had been any other situation, then Sandy would have died. But guess what folks: we had help from a ghost!

I can hear your collective quizzical 'huhs' and 'WTF's' from here. Yes, just when you thought my journey couldn't get even more screwed up, a bloody ghost comes into the picture. From what I can tell you about yesterday is that Sandy and I met a lovely ghost named Charlotte, who is apparently over two thousand years old (but doesn't look a day over fourteen ;)), and she convinced us to go and fight that good old d'bag Gideon. My lovely arch nemesis stole a book from this bitch, whose a tad more transparent than most, and she got Sandy and me to go and fight him for it.

Now, I can't give the psycho cow all the bad credit: I did want to fight Gideon and try and end this stupid war I seem to become embroiled in, and I did force Sandy to come with me. But the battle was bad from the moment we stepped in. Paige was instantly knocked out by an overly powerful Magnezone, and within a minute Sandy was shot. I cannot even begin to put it into words what went through my mind… all that blood, and seeing her lying on the ground, her face turning milky white and her eyes rolling into the back of her head. I thought she was dead, and my heart and mind broke in two. Sandy is the only human friend I have had in my entire life. I have never really fitted in, only ever having a few companions, but I never had the connection with them that I have with Sandy. If she had died, I don't know what I would have done…

Yesterday has made me question this journey and my life. I want to blame Charlotte the Unfriendly Ghost for Sandy nearly dying, but I know part of the blame is mine: I wanted to fight Gideon, I wanted to make him suffer for what he has done to me and my life. I am letting this war take over my journey. It seems like weeks ago that I got the Thunder Badge, and I am going to have to wait a few more before I can get my next one. That was the whole purpose for travelling, yet Gideon, the reality stars, all these mysteries and puzzles have ruined this. I don't even know who I am anymore my mind is that messed up: I could probably be a dancing Snorlax for all I know! I like I am the ghost, and I am drifting further away from the goal I set out to achieve to try and fix the problems other people have left me with.

I should have specified that Gideon got away, taking his magical book with him. I am on the right track towards working out what he is doing, but I do not have the full picture left: it is a jigsaw puzzle that is slowly coming together, but I just need a few more pieces. The big puzzle though is whether this is my war or not. I have become embroiled in all of these battles, with Gideon and the reality stars and probably some angry Japanese triad for all I know, and I just want to find a way to get out of this war or finally face them in battle so I could end it once and for all.

A fortune teller gave me so good advice yesterday (though I am wondering if it actually happened or I had some really weird, opium fuelled dream…). She told me I need to find control in my life in order to get in back on track. I will not say I am an expert at working out encrypted prophecies, but I think I need to finally start training my Pokemon properly and get them in order before I can fully defeat my foes and master this journey. Looks like I know what I'll be doing while Sandy is resting. Frances evolved into Parasect during the battle, so I believe that this is one step towards getting a proper team, though Darwin is still a question mark…

But, indeed I have two weeks off from everything while Sandy and another friend recover, and I am trying to find things to do aside from train. There are still many other questions I want answered just for me: why is Suicune following me, who is that man in the shadows, who is the voice in my head? (Though, let's be fair, these days I swear there are more voices in my head than even I know about…) And there are the people closest to me: somehow, Sandy knew that the Magnezone was a different colour than normal. She has never shown much Pokemon knowledge, so I was taken aback by this. There are still elements of her story I feel she hasn't shared, and while I respect her privacy know more than ever, I do wonder what secrets Sandy is keeping locked up from me. I want to protect her from danger that I fear I am putting her in, yet I can only do so much if there are things she is hiding.

I will post again once I have made my way to my next stop! As always, please share your theories with me about all these different questions and let me know if you have answers! Sandy is doing well and is currently asking me to make sure all my readers know she is alright (attention seeker much! You think she'd just had a life threatening moment or something…), and she is eager to solve these mysteries with me and get back on her feet. That I am not too sure about… but we will wait and see, won't we?

Keep safe all of you, and whatever you do, don't trust ghosts. The dead don't have to worry about losing sleep over their lies…

Alaska


	63. Interlude 9: Murderers and Victims

**Interlude Nine: The Murderers and their Victims**

"Yes…yes, yes, I understand… I am sure your men did the _best _they could… of course I am aware of the consequences, you bloody imbecile! If you are going to keep sharing your pointless thoughts with me, you can piss off and bother me when something that is actually important comes up! Now go and do what I am actually paying you to do!"

Amanda angrily turned off the call and clutched at her head, feeling the irritating throb she always seemed to get whenever she was angry or annoyed. She threw her phone onto her inflatable mattress and fell down after it, unable to stop herself from groaning.

For years Amanda had been planning this event: she had grovelled and fought and manipulated her way into Silph TV, and been working hard with Buzz to fine tune this reality show so it would all play into their favour. Amanda had always loved order and neatness, and she had been proud of herself for executing everything so there was no chance it would backfire.

But she hadn't factored in Alaska Acevedo.

It seemed quite unfair and unjust that after all this time, someone would try and stop them _right_ when their plan began. It was as if Arceus had been leading them through a maze, only to turn around at one point and say "Sorry but there's not exit." Amanda had no idea why the girl was even causing this much damage to their cause. Maybe it would all be different if they had chosen different people… no, not that: this show needed ratings to survive and to make their final act a hit, and for that it needed the perfect team. Chloe, Damian and Lachlan were perfect for a reality competition, and Chloe was the perfect one, even though Alaska going after them all came down to her…

Whatever the reason, Alaska kept crossing paths with them, and Amanda knew she had to be stopped. If she kept making a mockery of their show and kept destroying their tasks at every point their paths met, the entire plan would backfire. There seemed no way Alaska would willing leave them all alone, and this left destroying her as the only option.

_Buzz is not going to be happy… not happy indeed, _Amanda thought irritably and grabbed her phone. Buzz would want to know if the people they had sent to follow the girl through the Rock Tunnel had worked. How would he react when he learnt they had escaped once again? Buzz was taking the girl's involvement as a personal insult, and Amanda could only wonder if it was opening old wounds about Sevii…

_Leave it! Don't even think about it… he'll know somehow, he always seems to know… _Amanda warned herself, and she sighed once again and threw her phone out of sight. There was a definite connection between her and Buzz, there always had been… yet whenever he got angry… there were times Amanda questioned their relationship, and it was always based on his actions… which were usually her fault though, at least most of the time…

"What is that racket?" Amanda growled, looking for some sort of distraction, and she leapt to her feet. Her tent was quite spacious, with enough room for her double mattress, a personal mini fridge, cheap fold-out desk and a few other necessities, and there was enough room for her to easily stand up straight. She quickly adjusted her clothes, a crisp white shirt and tight black dress, and checked herself over in the mirror: she didn't want the stars to know she had been crying. Feeling composed and ordered, Amanda Anderson stepped outside. She instantly saw a battle was unfolding before her: Damian and Lachlan were training, the former using Charmeleon and Kadabra against the latter's Wartortle and Growlithe. Several of their cameras were capturing the battle, watching as Kadabra struck Wartortle down with a ThunderPunch while Charmeleon and Growlithe exchanging burning streams of fire. It was evident their skills were improving, which was a welcome sight, and Amanda hoped they would be ready for the gruelling exercises she had planned for them. She then noticed Chloe was leaning against her tent, looking fairly bored with the proceedings, a bottle of nail polish in one hand and a phone in the other.

_You precious little bitch, _Amanda thought viciously, glaring across at the blonde and feeling her muscles tense. _We wouldn't be in this mess if you could just ignore Alaska and let her go on her way! I thought you could have embarrassed her and helped destroy her, but you are simply stubborn and weak and are endangering this project! _She then thought back to her plans for the next few days and smiled to herself, glancing back to the battle before her as Charmeleon hit Wartortle with a Dragon Rage. _Our robots have failed, and so have our men… it seems the only warriors I have left are my children… and if I can't destroy her, I know who will..._

* * *

"How could you be so idiotic? Do you know what would have happened if either of them had died?"

"Of course I know Red, I know better than any of you!" Red let out a growl that came from deep within his throat, and angrily he kicked a piece of rubble across the cracked and broken floor of the House of Memories. The place was scheduled to be tidied up over the next few days and have repairs straight once it was all clear, but Red had requested the chance to look over the damage before it happened. Even though he was ready to murder someone, Red couldn't help but feel sorry for all the damage that had happened here: it would take a long time to get all the Pokemon graves repaired and properly sorted, and Red did not feel sorry for whoever had to do that. It stirred up memories of Blue, and Red sighed, struggling to control his thoughts.

"I acted in the way I thought it was sensible to act," Charlotte said irritably behind him, and Red sighed again, composing himself before turning around to talk to her. Saying he and Charlotte didn't get along was the understatement of the century, and their relationship was always pushed to its limits at times like this. When Red had read Alaska's blog earlier that day and learnt what role the ghost had to play in yesterday's events, he wished she had a proper solid neck so he could strangle the life out of her again.

"How was it sensible to send Alaska and Sandy into a dangerous battle with Gideon?" Red hissed, glaring angrily at the ghost from across the crater in the middle of the graveyard. "There was guns involved Charlotte! You may be able to let them phase through you, but for us people with bodies it pretty fucking hurts to get shot!"

"It pretty fucking hurts to get you body blown to bits as well, but you never hear me complaining!" Charlotte snapped.

"YOU ALWAYS COMPLAIN ABOUT IT!" Red roared, and furiously he grabbed a rock from the ground and through it at her. It went straight through, of course, but Charlotte looked stunned all the same. And then a smile crept onto her face, one that was condescending and mischievous rather than happy and joking, and Red wondered if it had been a mistake.

"Look at you Red!" The ghost said with a smirk. "It's only taken five years but you've finally grown a pair. Leaf must be happy: you can actually pleasure her now!" Red glared at her and Charlotte simply laughed, and then floated forwards so she suddenly appeared right next to the Champion. "I feel dreadful about what happened to Alexandra, but I was there to save her, wasn't I? Besides, I needed them to fight in my place."

"Why? What can they do that a magical ghost can't?" Red asked and turned angrily towards her. Charlotte's face fell, and she began to float backwards, away from Red, a strange look crossing her face, and Red knew that this could hardly be good news either.

"The reason the House was destroyed is because Gideon has found a way to defeat me," she said in a whisper. "He has a gun that can channel Ghost Energy in such a way that it blows me apart and renders me useless for an unknown amount of time. He manipulated me into using my magic to get him my book, and I feel horrible. I have gone all this time without anyone being able to stop me, and that prat comes back from the dead and uses my powers against _me_!" Charlotte looked genuinely shaken by this, and Red couldn't help but feel a touch of sympathy for her, but it didn't last long as he thought of what needed to be done. With yet another sigh, Red collapsed onto a pile of rubble that formed a pretty decent seat a few feet away. Things were not making a lot of sense these days, but he needed to do his best to keep the region together against the plots that brewed against it.

"Charlotte, I want you to stay here and organise the ashes back into their appropriate graves while you recover from this," Red said, and glanced up to see how the ghost would take the orders. Charlotte had paused, thinking it over, but eventually gave him a nod of approval. "I will send for you when the job is done, but stay out of things until you are called."

"What exactly are you going to do?" Charlotte asked with her tone full of rudeness as always. "The girl is concerned about your legends following her around, maybe call the beasts off."

"No!" Red said firmly, getting back to his feet and thinking in the back of his mind how relaxing sleep would be right now. "There needs to be something out there to protect her from everyone that's trying to kill her." And without another word, Red turned and stormed towards a hole in the wall, seeing it as easier than going through the reception. He needed to make sure Celadon was protected for when they went there, and he would have every possible person track down Gideon and work out what he was doing before he struck again.

"You can protect Alaska for as long as you want, but nothing will stop Gideon, and when it comes down to it, nothing will stop her," Charlotte called out. "Just think back to 2008, Mr Lowe: weren't you just the same?"

_I certainly was, _Red thought to himself as he stepped out into Lavender Town, _which is all the more reason to make sure she doesn't do something stupid_

* * *

Gideon stared down at Charlotte's spell book, clasped within his pale and nearly skeletal hands, feeling a sense of happiness for the first time in years. It had been over twenty four hours since he had fled Lavender Town, yet he still couldn't believe he had it: this most prized and priceless item, something thousands of men had sought after for all their lives and something only few could lay their hands on. It had been years since Gideon had last possessed it, and he planned to hold onto it for many more.

Yet as he stared down at the book, Gideon found he still couldn't shake this odd feeling stirring in the back of his mind. It had arisen halfway through the day, and though he had originally thought it to be a complication brought on from Charlotte tampering with his watch, the scientist was starting to believe it was something more than that. It was weighing down on his thoughts and distracting him from his joy, and Gideon wondered what had happened that could have brought these thoughts on…

_Alaska… _he concluded at last, a foul smile forming from his lips. It was always her: the black haired teenager always came to him in the middle of the night, taunting him with the fact while she never defeated him; she outsmarted him, survived him and brought news of his actions to the wider world. The girl was a danger, and she had come so close to defeating him yesterday that Gideon had worried in a second before he teleported that she just might get hold of him.

_Yet she did not get me… why? _Gideon thought, and the answer came as quickly as it was asked. _Ah yes, she feared for her friend, the blonde… I shot her, she fell, and Alaska forgot all about me and went running back to her… _Gideon glanced down at the spell book and smiled grimly: there was no delight in having this item if Alaska would only defeat him in the end, but the scientist may have just found his answer. The realms of sociology and psychology were sciences he had never truly understood, but even Gideon could see the girl feared and cared for the life of her friend, just like she would if it was a family member or one of her Pokemon's lives hanging in the balance…

Gideon began to laugh a deep, cruel chuckle as he clutched the book to his chest, and became gleeful in the knowledge that he had finally found Alaska's weakness, which meant he finally knew how to defeat her…

**The Celadon Arc starts next, but I will only do one chapter before I start the next, shorter Galactic, so expect a few cliffhangers! Feel free to share any theories you have about what everyone may be planning, I would love to hear what everyone is thinking! **


	64. Chapter 45: A Tunnel Too Far

**Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up! There were several things weighing me down but I hope it was worth the wait :D**

**Chapter Forty Five: A Tunnel Too Far**

After two weeks of peace, relaxation and time to think, Alaska knew it was all going to end horribly as they ventured into yet another Underground Path.

"Surely there is a path we could take that doesn't involve going into a cramped concrete hole, surrounded by darkness and who knows what else?" She growled as they descended the steps, the bright light of the world above quickly fading away to be replaced with a dim glow the colour of amber that appeared only sporadically.

"I told you, and we need to get you two to Celadon City undetected, and there are several investigations occurring in Saffron City that would make it risky to go through there at this present time," Trevor replied with an agitated growl, shooting a steely look at Alaska from over his shoulder. Alaska pulled a face as he walked ahead of them, but glanced to her right and saw Sandy was giving her a look that seemed to say 'Really?'

"What, I have every right to be worried!" Alaska hissed back. "Do you remember what happened last time we went into a tunnel? My leg has only just recovered!"

"So has my chest," Sandy said, a smile crossing her face, and Alaska couldn't help but smirk as well: the blonde had found a way to one-up Alaska, and she enjoyed dishing it out at every opportunity when Alaska began complaining.

Over the past fortnight, Alaska had been doing a lot of voicing her opinions, thoughts and questions aloud. Sandy and Trevor had been quick to recover due to the magic Charlotte had used to save them, so whenever Sandy wasn't asleep, Alaska would be waiting to discuss the many questions that puzzled her every day. She had brought Sandy up to speed on what Gideon was possibly planning, and the two friends quickly began speculating about what he was planning, as well as discussing the legendaries that followed them, Charlotte, the robots, the mysterious man in the shadows. Alaska kept what the fortune teller had said to herself though as she had no idea what any of it meant, and the cryptic messages of the dead rising would only cause worry rather than lead to any interesting discussions. She felt bad about hiding this, as Sandy seemed to be enjoying finally being in on the conversation and always suggested ridiculous ideas whenever they got bored (such as Gideon simply being an overly pedantic fossil collector or the robots secretly being Pokemon from the future that are really trying to warn them about the effects of global warming), but Alaska knew that telling her what the fortune teller said would only cause grief. She felt guilty enough about the role she had played in the blonde being shot, and Alaska didn't want to put her friend into any more damage than necessary.

The thoughts rushed back to her now, and Alaska shook her head and tried to think of something else as the pair followed behind Trevor and Daisy into the new Underground Path. This one seemed to be nicer than the previous one, with all the lights working even if they were flickering on and off, and they could see parts of the walls this time, slightly reassuring Alaska: if they could see most of the tunnel, there was less chance people would have to hide in the shadows.

"They had to rebuild this tunnel after an incident five years ago," Daisy explained, trying to break the silent tension that enveloped them all. "Half of the tunnel caved in, so they had to rebuild it, and it has managed to stay pretty much undamaged since then. The one from Cerulean to Vermilion was older and really needed to be fixed up."

"Well, they have the opportunity to do that now," Alaska growled to herself, though she stopped when Sandy shot her another look. "Everything seems to have happened five years ago… I really want to know who thought one day 'Hey, what if I go and blow up every destination in Kanto? That sounds like a smart idea! Now where's my dynamite?'"

"Did you ever watch the news when you were eight?" Daisy asked, glancing over at her. "It would have been all over there if you had looked! And don't you live in Viridian City anyway?"

"Yes," Alaska said in a dull and bitter tone, half because of the reminder she was constantly being watched, followed and basically stalked by these people, and half because of the reminder about what had happened to Viridian five years ago. The city liked to gloss over this dark event, mostly as no one had been killed, but a large chunk of Viridian had been destroyed in a large battle between what they had been told was a Pokemon battle between rival groups. It had seemed far fetched when she was eight, and Alaska had always wondered what had truly happened that had turned half her city to ashes. Her family had been away at a wedding at the time, so Alaska had not seen the fight herself, but the events over the past weeks had brought the thoughts back, and Alaska was starting to wonder just what had happened behind the scenes that had brought the terrible event on.

"When we get to Celadon, are you going to challenge Alexis?" Sandy said suddenly, and Alaska snapped back into her current setting, her mind coming back to her body. She glanced at her friend and saw Sandy was smiling softly but with a slightly sad eagerness in her eyes, trying to draw the conversation to happier discussions.

"Oh definitely!" Alaska said quickly, willing to do anything to please her friend. "A Grass type gym leader shouldn't be too much of a challenge: I have Flying, Bug and Poison types on my team, so Alexis should be pretty easy to defeat. I think having all this time to train will definitely play in my advantage as well."

"Looks like getting shot was a blessing in disguise!" Sandy said with a smile, and Alaska smiled in return, albeit weakly. "But yeah… all that training must have worked out! Frances is still making progress, isn't she?"

"She seems to be improving with every day," Alaska replied with a wide and sincere beam: every since evolving, Frances had been gaining more and more confidence. The Parasect still wasn't entirely comfortable, and occasionally tucked herself away under her giant mushroom, but Alaska was still impressed by what she pulled off. She had defeated both Sandy's Onix and Daisy's Sandslash with a single Solarbeam, and nearly outlasted Trevor's Vaporeon. There was still some fear behind her tough new exterior, and there had been one bad period when Daisy's Ditto mimicked Paige, and Frances reacted badly to being threatened by two Flying types, but her massive improvement had brought Alaska a necessary boost after the shocking face-off with Gideon.

But as the thought of this success came back to her, Alaska couldn't help but think of her large failure of the past fortnight. Despite everything she had tried to do, Darwin had only gotten worse. The Primeape frequently disobeyed her, using different attacks in battle and causing serious harm to the other Pokemon: a ThunderPunch assault left Daisy's Dewgong unable to battle for nearly an entire week, Sandy's Butterfree was sent crashing through a bench when she intervened a Karate Chop that would have obliterated Bellsprout, and the only Pokemon that could take him down was Trevor's grizzled Charizard. Alaska wanted to be there for Sandy during her recovery, and she wanted to celebrate Frances' success, and give Nadia more attention to grow, and spend more time with Paige, but Darwin was hogging all her time. The Primeape was proving a major hassle, and showed no signs of changing. Alaska tried teaching him new moves and tried to set up an obstacle course to give him a new challenge, but Darwin seemed to be pushing her away and getting angrier and more violent all the time. There had to be a solution, but Alaska hadn't found it yet, and it seemed unlikely that she was going to find it soon…

"Alaska, are you alright?" A voice said around her, sending a jolt through Alaska's mind.

"Wha? Yeah… I'm fine, honest!" Alaska said, snapping back into reality. She had kept moving without registering it, but now Alaska came to a stop as all three of her travelling companions had turned towards her and were looking confused at her obvious drifting off.

"Are you sure?" Daisy said, her brow narrowing as her face turned concerned. "It's not being underground again that's worrying you, is it? We can always stop if you want. It must be a shock walking so suddenly again after a two week break!"

"Actually, it feels good to walk properly again," Alaska said quickly. "I would rather keep on going: I am interested to see who our mysterious hosts are going to be." Daisy and Trevor both nodded and turned back around, and their minimal walking group carried on. Alaska gave Sandy a smile to reassure her, and wondered when they would be able to get out from within the tunnel. She felt suffocated, trapped inside here, surrounded by darkness and silence and with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Alaska couldn't help but feel awkward, walking alongside a friend that had been shot because of her and with two people guiding them to some unknown protector, unwilling to offer her any information that could actually help her. The trainer was desperate to find a way out, get to the Celadon Gym and face off for her fourth badge: that was all she truly wanted at the moment after going so long between battles, and if someone else got in her way, Alaska still had her brownies ready to force down their throats…

"We are nearly at the end of the tunnel," Trevor called out. "It will be a short walk towards Celadon, and I believe our hosts will meet us before we reach the city to ensure we get in without being seen and get in safely."

"Sounds like a plan," Alaska said. _A plan I have no say in… _She thought bitterly. It was strange being led away by a spy like this, and it was funny how this had all been arranged while Trevor was still bedridden and recovering. Alaska had started to wonder if there was a series of emergency plans in place to ensure her protection throughout Kanto, and though it should make her feel safe, it only made her feel more controlled than normal.

"My bag is shaking," Sandy said suddenly, and Alaska glanced at her and nodding, her thoughts making her drift off and not pay attention. "Seriously, something in my bag is mov- OH MY GOD, THE EGG!" Sandy screamed, her voice echoing, and Alaska paused as the blonde swung her bag around and nearly knocked Alaska's head off with the force. Trevor and Daisy paused as well and watched as Sandy unzipped her bag and pulled the mostly yellow egg out. It was shaking violently, with small beams of yellow light emitting from its core. Sandy's face lit up, her eyes bulging and jaw dropping, and she looked at Alaska with the same look Freddie wore whenever he got a new toy.

"It's hatching!" Sandy whispered, her voice shaking, and Alaska, Trevor and Daisy came in close as the egg shook in her hands. Alaska had never seen an egg hatch before, and was both tense and excited at the same time, Sandy's joy spreading through the dull and cold tunnel and washing away all her dark memories. The yellow glow was getting brighter and spreading throughout the entire egg, which was shaking as vigorously as if Sandy was channelling an earthquake into it.

"Do you know what Pokemon it is?" Daisy asked in awe, and Alaska turned towards her.

"Surge said it was going to be a –," Alaska began, but something caught her eye behind them, the yellow light illuminating the area around them. She froze and stared between Daisy and Trevor in silence, the sun-coloured glow highlighting a dark figure that stood behind them all, not moving, not speaking, not doing anything at all, simply standing there, and Alaska knew that the person was staring right back at her.

"It's him!" She hissed, and charged forwards, her right hand reaching into her pockets and grabbing the first PokeBall she could find. Alaska didn't care if she sent Darwin out and he destroyed everything around them: the mysterious figure that had been stalking her all this time was within her reaches, and she wouldn't let him escape.

"Alaska, what is it?" Daisy yelled behind her, but Alaska ignored her as she threw her PokeBall forwards. It burst open and the blue light briefly showed the silhouetted figure again, giving her a one second glimpse that reminded her of what Trevor had worn back in the Rock Tunnel, before Nadia landed before her.

"Poison Sting!" Alaska yelled, not even stopping for a moment to think as rage and her burning desire for answers flowed through.

"RAN RAN!" Nadia yelled, looking confused but firing the purple stings forwards anyway. A swish of black cloak appeared within the surrounding light, and Alaska quickly made after it, blindly chasing after the mysterious man.

"Keep going Nadia, try and keep him trapped!" Alaska shouted as she reached inside her bag for the nearest weapon: with a great heave, she pulled out the knife that had been given to cut the brownies, and she began wildly brandishing it within the darkness, wondering if she would hit something.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ALASKA?" Trevor roared behind her.

"This creep has been stalking me since Viridian Forest, and I want to know exactly who he is and what he is up to!" Alaska shouted back, leaping backwards as a Poison Sting exploded in front of her. "Nadia, try using Skull Bash!" There was a sudden swishing, and Alaska turned around to see a dark figure had appeared behind her as quickly as if he had teleported. She raised the knife, but the person struck her down with a sharp jab to elbow that send shudders through her nerves, and than sent her sprawling to the ground beside Nadia with a kick to the legs.

"FREEZE!" Trevor shouted, and Alaska saw he had his gun back in his hands, while Daisy had leapt in front of Sandy for protection. The figure glanced across at Trevor before leaping backwards, throwing something up as he moved. There was a bang that sounded ten times as loud in the enclosed confides of the tunnel, but the bullet harmlessly moved past the spinning PokeBall as it burst open. Alaska groaned as she sat up, but had to in order to scuttle away from the red energy forming before her. A Pokemon about twice her height formed and about the width and weight of ten Alaska's. The beast had a sweeping long tail that was topped with a brown boulder, and its head was adorned with two sharp horns. The Pokemon roared and beat his chest with his gigantic, tree trunk arms, and Alaska instinctively grabbed Nadia for protection.

"Alaska Acevedo, this is not how a lady should treat her saviours," the same robotic she had heard before hissed. "I am here to save you from the threats that are constantly around you, and to try and pull you out from this cycle of destruction that will only destroy your life. You think I am some sort of foe, but you are willing travelling with two people you barely know into a city that you will not get out of alive if your true enemies know you are there. I saved you at Viridian Forest and I saved you at the last Underground Path, yet you still do not trust me?" Alaska froze, stunned by the words: she knew the person had saved her, but did they mean she should trust them? The frightening Pokemon she presumed was a Rhyperior was looming over her, and the image didn't exactly fill her mind with ease. But what if this person had the answers she wanted, or knew a safer place to go, or had a magical solution to stop this nightmare ride…

"I demand you tell us your name right now or face the consequences!" Trevor yelled, his gun pointed towards the shadows where the figure had disappeared. "You are interfering with issues to do with the International Police, so unless you are willing to properly help us, you must leave or face arrest!" The robotic voice laughed to the side, and the Rhyperior laughed as well, though it was far more intimidating,

"I am sorry you did not make you mind up sooner Alaska, but I shall give you another option sooner," the robotic voice said deeply, and Alaska nervously clutched Nadia, wondering what would happen. "However, I am not going to reveal myself to you, nor will I allow myself to be captured. Just me when I say I hope you all make it out alive." Alaska froze in shock, wondering what this could possibly mean, but then her eyes glanced towards the Rhyperior and knew in a second that there was a reason why it had been sent out…

"RUN!" She yelled, at the exact moment that the … Pokemon let out an ear splitting roar. Alaska leapt to her feet and hugged Nadia close to her chest, and quickly signalled for the others to follow. She had forgotten about Sandy and her egg, and was shocked as Daisy led Sandy away from Trevor with something clutched close to her chest. Trevor fired his gun at the Rock-Ground type, but Rhyperior simply let out a roar, the bullets easily bouncing off him, and he raised his hands above his head. Alaska watched in shock as rocks began to form in his palms, energy flowing through them, and the horned Pokemon brought both arms together, the rocks moulding together.

"GO ALASKA, MOVE!" Daisy suddenly screamed in her ear, giving her a shove forwards. Alaska began moving, but her eyes were transfixed on the slowly growing boulder in Rhyperior's hands, and her mind could only think of what was going to happen next.

"RHYYYYY-PEEEEEER-IIIII-OOOOOOOR!" Rhyperior roared, and the rock, now twice the size of his head, was blasted upwards with a blast of red energy. It flew right up towards a light, which instantly shattered and plunged the beast and Trevor into darkness. Alaska caught Daisy looking back, and the scientist came to a pause for a single second, enough time for her to register what would happen to her partner. Alaska realised in that moment that she should have connected the glaring bond the two much older people had, and felt silly and immature for not noticing their relationship before… but than she felt silly and immature for getting them into this mess. Nadia was quivering in her hands, and Alaska could see Sandy was crying, something small, shivering and yellow huddled up in her arms: she had just been in hospital, she shouldn't be going through this…

But just as the trio froze, wondering what was happening, that was when the world began to shake.

"THE ROOF!" Daisy yelled, snapping back into her role as their protector, and she shoved Alaska and Sandy onwards towards the stairs. However, it was hard to run when the entire tunnel was shaking, and dust was falling from the roof. The light bulbs above them began to shatter, but Alaska glanced up in time to see large crack appearing above them, a central line streaming along the centre like a sweeping river, the others tributaries that only added to the chaos. The group sprinted quickly in the growing darkness, a dim outline of the stairs appearing ahead. Rhyperior roared in the background, and Alaska looked behind to see a flash of something red and desperately hoped Trevor survived, more for a prediction of guilt than a bond for the mysterious man.

Her feet hit the bottom stair and Alaska nearly fell forwards, making Nadia yell, but regained her balance by the time Sandy and Daisy had rushed past. There were more rumblings and the sounds of things cracking, and Alaska looked behind to see a veil of dust engulfing the tunnel, only a few flickers of dark yellow showing the haze.

"I am sorry Nadia, I never should have put you in this position… again," Alaska cried as she ran up the stairs, seeing the entrance building above was shaking and cracking as well. Alaska shut her eyes against the stream of dust that was chasing after her, and she thought back to everything that had happened to her: she had been so worried thinking about if she ahd caused Sandy to get shot, but she had never thought about what role she had played in all the other events: the fight with Chloe, mocking Sandy and sending her onto that bridge, trying to fight the ElectrodeBot, going to Pewter Museum… maybe she would never have put herself in any of this situations if she had simply minded her own business…

There was a loud snap right above her, and without even wasting time to look up Alaska ducked down to the ground, not even sure where her body was but focussing more on safety. Nadia squirmed in her arms, and Alaska felt terrible for the journey she had made the poor Pokemon endure. But all her thoughts and worries left her as the falling concrete she had anticipated crashed down against her, and Alaska continued to hold on tight as a roar filled her ears and pain spread through her body: she had sabotaged her own journey and let it be consumed, but nothing would stop her from putting her Pokemon through further harm...

**The Celadon Arc continues after the next Galactic, so expect a bit of a delay but I will try and get this shorter chapter done faster. This arc will be a bit different, especially as it will be returning to more grounded action, and expect a bit of a shocking twist and some new issues for Alaska to overcome as she worries and plans. There will be a new gym leader, but for a look into who it is, I'd suggest looking over at 'Left Behind' to see some characters that will play a role in the new arc. Until next time, farewell, and I enjoyed reading all your theories: feel free to add any new thoughts in about our mysterious shadowed friend!**


	65. Chapter 46: Breakfast at Jericho's

**Hello everyone! It has been a while, and I have still not finished Galactic, but I thought I would do an 8ES chapter before my exams came up and bogged me down even further. This arc will make up for the delay as there are several twists coming I doubt anyone would expect, so enjoy! **

**Chapter Forty Six: Breakfast at Jericho's **

_Alaska Acevedo, you have escaped death once more, escaped a folly caused by your own actions. If you keep this up, you shall not survive. You must focus on your battles; you must find a way to escape this path you have set your mind on.  
I can't leave; I have been dealt my cards. I have put too much into this to turn my back on it now_

_Then you must face the consequences. Two forces are continuing to threaten your life, your Pokemon's lives, the lives of your friends and family. Death is closer than ever, and you are willing to walk into His net. You nearly lost Alexandra, and before you have left this city, you will lose another. Make your decisions wisely, Alaska Acevedo, and be ready to accept the consequences._

_What do you mean? Who is leaving me? Who is going to die?_

_You face your greatest challenge yet. I hope you are prepared._

_Who is going to die? Tell me!?_

_Goodbye for now._

_TELL ME!_

"TELL ME! TELL ME! TELL ME!"

"Alaska! Wake up… snap out of it! Alaska!"

Alaska's eyes opened, but she continued to thrash about, her body becoming entangled in covers and sheets. The light above her moved and blurred as she did, and Alaska could see faces looming over her, some familiar, some not, but all she could think about was the voice inside her head and the warning that had been left. She shut her eyes against the glaring artificial light and all the strange faces looming over her, and tried to go back to the place of the blue glow and the shadowed figure. Alaska knew it was Latios that had spoken to her, the same face she had heard twice before, the voice belonging to her grey handed saviour at Vermilion. She had to know what his message meant; she had to know who was going to die so she could save them.

But when Alaska shut her eyes, all she could hear was screaming, all she could feel was something moving against her chest, and all she could see was dust as it swallowed her body whole, filled her nose and lungs, and pushed her back towards the darkness.

When Alaska opened her eyes again, the room was empty.

She had a feeling that a great deal of time had passed between since she had last awoken, but there was no way of telling as it was still as bright as it was earlier. Alaska groggily pushed herself up, struggling with the sheets that had bound her legs together. The room she was in was small and uncharacterised, the walls painted a drab shade of brown and only a few armchairs and a bedside table as decoration. There was nothing that told her where she was, though Alaska remembered seeing Sandy and Daisy's faces when she had last awoken, and was reassured that they were here. But no one else was here now, and there was an unnatural silence within the room that only made Alaska feel nervous.

"Hello?" She shouted, her voice ringing off the walls back to her, but that was the only reply she got. Alaska nervously swung her legs out from the bed, letting the long silk nightgown she had been dressed in cascade past her feet. For a brief moment, Alaska wondered if the shadowed man had kidnapped them and brought them back to a dungeon. Her eyes flickered around nervously, expecting the man to emerge from the darkness and capture her. A breeze of air suddenly struck her back, and Alaska spun around as quickly as possible, fumbling with her gown for PokeBalls that weren't there.

"Miss Acevedo, I am sorry if I frightened you," a timid voice said from the corner, and a figure moved aside, letting more light pour into the tiny room. Alaska stopped fumbling and realised she was breathing rapidly and frantically, her heart pounding against her ribs as if trying to break out. She tried to calm herself down, though the images of the blue light and falling dust clouds seemed embedded in her mind. The owner of the quiet voice moved forwards, and Alaska saw it was a girl that looked barely older than herself, dressed in a simple black dress with dry brunette hair that was tied tightly back. Her face was young and ghostly white, making the girl's worrisome green eyes glow at neon proportions.

"Mr Athlew told me to bring you up when you had woken up," the girl said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Everyone is having breakfast now." She picked up a thick, plain grey dressing gown from one of the armchairs and passed it across, though Alaska was reluctant in accepting it. She had no idea who this Mr Athlew was, no clue if he was friend or foe, but hoped it was the former if Sandy and Daisy were here… though who knew how long it had been since she had awoken and what had happened to them since.

"How long have I been unconscious for?" Alaska asked, pulling the dressing gown on and moving thankfully out of the room, entering into a long and narrow hallway of brown walls and grubby tiles. There were voices sounding from more doors to the sides, and Alaska wondered if Sandy or Paige might be behind one of them.

"You were brought in yesterday after the tunnel collapsed," the girl replied quietly, moving quickly ahead towards a heavy set of double doors. "You received only a few bruises, though I overheard the doctor say that it is a miracle that you did so." Alaska nodded at the information, pleased that only a day had passed since the collapse. She was amazed as well that she was uninjured, something that had not dawned on her in wake of seeing Latios again, but as she thought of it, Alaska was certain the mysterious legendary would have had some role in protecting her, just as he had saved her at Vermilion.

However, all thoughts of Latios faded away as the girl pushed the double doors open, and Alaska stepped out into the world beyond.

She had emerged into what seemed to be a fairytale mansion. White walls surrounded her and towered above, reaching heights that could have dwarfed Onix. The floor had changed to the most gleaming white tiles Alaska had ever laid eyes upon, so bright she was forced to turn away. Two elegant staircases crawled up the sides of the walls, moving towards another storey before curving around and moving up to the floors above. A set of doors loomed over her from a few metres away, and sunshine poured in through gigantic windows that made Alaska's neck spasm when she tried to look to the top. Splashes of colour came from an old oak set of drawers, a variety of artworks and sculptures on display, and a Mamoswine hide that seemed to swallow the floor.

"What is this place?" Alaska whispered in awe, having to turn around to take it all in. An open doorway stood directly opposite, and voices were coming at her from all directions, all of them faint but enough to blur together. This looked like the set of a television show or something you only saw in magazines, and Alaska was stunned that she had awoken here. Who would have this amount of money that wanted to protect Alaska? She turned to the girl, who she now figured was a servant, and posed the question to her.

"Mr Athlew is waiting for you outside," was all the girl replied, and Alaska suddenly saw the girl's eyes in a completely different way. They were wide and staring directly at her, showing a sense of surprise but something else… fear, was it? Or a hateful look, the girl silently telling Alaska she didn't want to be here with her. The joy of the entrance hall suddenly disappeared, and Alaska felt cold inside, despite the gown she had been given.

The two moved between the two staircase and down another corridor, decorated with more expensive portraits and strange statues that surrounded them as they walked. Alaska spied closed doors and more corridors that moved off theirs, leading towards secret rooms and what sounded like a kitchen. She wasn't taking it in with the same levels of joy as she had before, and Alaska could now only think again of who this Mr Athlew was and why she was here, as well as the message she had been given.

They moved through open glass doors onto a concrete patio, which lead out to a wide green lawn, fenced in by hedges, with a tree house that looked bigger than the Acevedo household suffocating a tree in the corner. A small group of Eevee were frolicking amongst the grass, their joyful shrieks echoing around the garden, and their presence was more reassuring. The girl led Alaska along the concrete though, past more doors and windows peering into a large and busy kitchen, larger statues and strange pillars forming their decoration, and came to a wider section. A long glass table stood before them, next to more open doors that led into an indoor dining area. Two butlers in fine suits came out carrying covered trays, placing them down amongst the four people seated at the very end. Alaska tried to work out who they were, but a butler pointed in their direction, and suddenly they all turned.

"ALASKA!" Sandy screamed, and she got up so fast her seat fell down. Alaska had no time to prepare herself before being pulled into a hug, the breath knocked out of her. All she could do was hug her friend back, remembering the glow of her egg hatching and the terrified look as Sandy had fled the collapsing tunnel.

"You shouldn't be running, you're meant to be resting!" Alaska said with a forced laugh to cover up the guilt in her voice, and quickly wiped away a tear before they moved apart. Sandy's eyes were watery though, making Alaska feel worse.

"I thought you were going to be crushed down there, and for a minute it seemed that you had!" Sandy cried, her voice getting hysterical, and Alaska patted her back in an attempt at consulting her.

"Come now Alexandra, be sensible and come and sit down!" A brisk voice said from behind them. Alaska glanced over Sandy and stared at the figures seated at the table. Daisy was on one side, smiling warmly at her over a bowl of fruit salad, seated next to a boy that looked the same age as Alaska with a head of flame-coloured hair spiked up like a yellow rock formation. At the head of the table was the owner of the brisk voice, a woman that appeared in her sixties, her hair short, grey and neatly brushed, her lined face plastered with make up despite the early time. Alaska was pleased to see Daisy was well, but was intrigued the very young and very old new guests, but could tell from a start they owned the mansion that sat calmly next to them.

"Please Alaska dear, take a seat," the woman said, gesturing a gloved left hand at the free seat next to her. Alaska had no choice but to sit down and followed Sandy back to the table, though she turned to thank the girl, only to find she had already scuttled away. _She couldn't be rid of me sooner, _Alaska thought bitterly as she sat down on the blue whickered chair and pulled it forwards. A butler descended on her and poured her a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea, before serving her buttered toast and a bowl of colourful and juicy fruit salad.

"Eat up girl, there is plenty of food and you have not eaten for a whole day, you must be starved!" The elderly woman said in a carrying voice as she cracked over a boiled egg. "Unless you are one of those prissy types that can only have a calorie a day, though you don't look the type, and trust me, I have met _plenty_ in this business!" The woman said with a wink and let out a cackle.

"And what business would that be?" Alaska asked before she could stop herself, though her desire to know who these people were overcame her smarts.

"Why, my dear, the business of being wealthy," the woman replied with a twinkle in her eyes. "My husband did the earning, I did the smoozing, and I'll let you guess what the more difficult task was." Alaska smiled back at the woman, taken aback by her brashness and quick wit, and felt more reassured being in this mansion.  
"Are you feeling alright Alaska?" Daisy asked. "The doctor checked you over and said nothing seemed wrong with you, but of course only you can tell us the truth."

"I feel fine, which is pretty surprising," Alaska said, and caught Sandy smiling at her, which wiped away Alaska's own. Asides from the busted leg, Alaska always walked away mostly unscathed except for bruises and cuts, but Sandy had been the one to actually get shot and nearly die before them. Though she had survived, Alaska still felt terrible to know what had happened to her friend, and knew that Sandy would have to deal with the injury for long to come.

"I think we should probably introduce ourselves before we carry on," the orange haired boy said from across the table. "My name is Jericho, and this is my grandmother Evelyn. This is the Athlew Mansion, though is more commonly called the Celadon Mansion, so you may have heard of us." Alaska nodded with a blank face, but was gasping inside at her sudden realization. Of course she knew the Athlews: they were a well known family that were said to own all of Celadon City, from the Department Store to a series of commodiums and too many restaurants and cafes to name. It was an old family, having made their money through their purchasing of hotels and stores to build up their miniature empire.

"Jericho played an important role in dealing with an enraged Dragonite a few years ago, and he has proved useful to our cause ever since," Daisy explained. "He is only young, but the Athlews have more money than they know what to do with, and that also comes in handy when we are in need."

"We have been donating to charities for years, but what use is giving the people money if someone else is going to come around and slaughter them all?" Evelyn grumbled as she munched on her egg with better teeth than Alaska had seen in her old classmates.

"I get private tutoring here," Jericho explained, "but I use my spare time to help create a small system to help Daisy, Archer and anyone else out with their work. It is only small, but it is enough to get the job done."

"Where is Archer?" Alaska asked, annoyed at herself for not realising this earlier. She glanced at Daisy and saw a look of sadness cross her eyes and face. She remembered making a connection between Daisy and Trevor when the tunnel had start to shake, and could only imagine the pain the assistant was going through. But when she spoke, her voice was normal, strong and steady.

"Trevor was still under when the tunnel collapsed, but whoever or whatever saved you must have saved him as well," she explained. "The Athlews sent builders down to clear away the rubble, and we looked around but couldn't find any sign of him. That would mean he would have at least survived long enough to get away, but we do not know where he went from there. There are still people down there securing what remains, so hopefully we'll find him or at least this shadowed man. He knew we were coming to the mansion though, so if he is able to get here, he will." Daisy smiled at them, her lips twisting up encouragingly with a hint of warmness, though the smile did not match her eyes. Alaska felt like she was going to scream in her rage at herself, and indeed she clutched the table tight enough she suspected it might crack.

"Archer will find us, there is no way he could have died," Jericho said with a more youthful enthusiasm that made Alaska stopped hating herself and question his age. "Besides, this is one of the safest buildings there is. The room where you woke up Alaska is one of many hidden behind those doors that can only be reached by getting through the world's top security system. If they get through that, there is a securer area that can withstand a nuclear attack in the basement of the house."

"Well, we know Gideon has nuclear weaponry, so that could come in handy," Alaska said bitterly, and she stabbed a watery piece of apple with her fork, spraying juiced across the surface of the table. When she looked up, she found all four of her fellow diners giving her looks of various degrees of shocked, and one butler had frozen halfway through placing a large tray of steaming French toast and a plate of muffins onto the table.

"Sorry…," Alaska said awkwardly, cursing her anger, but Evelyn gave her a stiff pat on the hand.

"It is alright dear, we understand what you must be going through," the elderly woman said with a slight smile crossing her lined face. "The fact that this Gideon is trying to destroy our planet is ghastly enough as it is, but you poor girls getting involved is just _dreadful_!"

"There was a reason why we were coming here," Daisy explained. "This house is safe and secure, and there is no way Gideon or anyone else will be able to find you here. We put you in the rooms near the helpers in order to keep you protected in case something went wrong with Trevor or we were somehow tracked. The Athlews have the security systems to protect us, and after what happened at Lavender Town and in the tunnel, I think we need all the protection we can get while we stay here." Alaska had been nodding along while she spoke, grabbing several l pieces of French toast from the tray and covering them with thick, amber coloured syrup. However, as her childlike glee from doing this past, something behind the words started to dwell on her.

"While we stay here?" Alaska repeated, looking up at Daisy. "What do you mean while we stay here? I am supposed to be travelling on my journey. I still have five gym badges to get! You can't expect me to stay in one city forever." Daisy, Jericho and Evelyn all exchanged looks, and Alaska glanced angrily at Sandy as if this was her fault, but her friend looked as surprised as she did.

"Alaska, you have to understand, we need to protect you," Jericho explained. _How can you protect me when you probably haven't hit puberty yet? _Alaska thought viciously, but held her tongue. "Gideon is too powerful, and we still do not know the identity of those killers that struck you in the Rock Tunnel, or who is sending these robots after you, though we have suspicions. It is not safe for you to go out into the world until we have cleared these matters up!"

"Suspicions, what suspicions?" Alaska asked, her eyes flickering between the three people before her, though no one jumped at the opportunity to tell her what she wanted to know, and her eyes settled on Daisy, Daisy who had said they had no idea who was doing it only two weeks ago. Furious, Alaska grabbed her plate and threw it on the ground, where it shattered and made Sandy jumped. "I have been fighting in this battle for too long now, and now you lot want me to stop doing it? You all need to get on the same page for those 'Elites' of Kanto and decide what path you actually want me to take before you drive me insane!"

"I heard you never wanted to fight this battle in the first place!" Evelyn snapped back, the joy and laughter fading rapidly from her face and eyes, which began dark, glaring and angry.

"I didn't, I only wanted to go around Kanto and earn my gym badges, but Gideon has stopped me from doing so. Yet now you don't seem to want me to do anything!" Alaska hissed. "You have to at least let me earn my gym badges if I am going to be banned from putting that crazed scientist in his place!"

"Young lady, you should really hold your tongue!" Evelyn croaked, leaping to her feet and glaring down at Alaska. "We are trying to protect you because you are rash and out of control! You are not ready to even take on these gym leaders you are so desperately craving to defeat, let alone fight Gideon!" Alaska got to her own feet and felt around in her dressing gown for her PokeBalls, only to realise she still didn't have them. However, she felt something get pressed into her hand, and looked down to see a bold smile on Sandy's face as she pushed three PokeBalls into her friend's hands.  
"I am ready to fight because I have a strong team around me, both human and Pokemon wise," Alaska cried, and threw the three PokeBalls onto the table, and put a hand on Sandy's shoulder. The devices opened and light poured out, and a butler cried out in shock as Paige, Frances and Nadia landed on the table. The three cried out in joy, and Alaska was relieved to see that they were all happy and healthy, especially Nadia, who nearly leapt off the table in joy. Alaska beamed down at them all, relieved that Darwin had not been brought out, as she knew how badly that would end. _The Apricorn Ball signalled for control…_ Alaska thought, but didn't voice this aloud. She ignored Daisy's, knowing the scientist would notice the cover up, and instead glared back at the Athlews. Evelyn looked furious at having Pokemon released onto her breakfast table, but Jericho got to his feet and put a reassuring hand on his grandmother's wrist.

"You have a variety of Pokemon Alaska, I will give you that, and it is clear that Sandy has strong Pokemon as well and is a loyal friend," the teenager said with an almost cocky smile. "Good friends and a slightly odd mixture of Pokemon will not protect you in the end though, and I think it is time you learnt this." The smile in his eyes was unsettling, and Alaska was starting to wish she was still passed out in the slave's quarters where she could at least hold her tongue.

"Gather up your Pokemon Alaska," Jericho said with a broad beam, "I think it is time we go and meet Alexis."

**The next chapter will be out after I finally finish this Galactic, and expect Alaska to mentally clear up what may seem like contradictions that appeared in this chapter. **


	66. Chapter 47: Fifty Shades of Green

**Chapter Forty Seven: Fifty Shades of Green**

As soon as they left the mansion grounds, Alaska found herself emerged within a beautiful city, but could quickly see that Celadon was not afraid to show its wealth.

Everywhere there were tower blocks that rose to the sky, each one a different piece of architectural wonderment, pieces of imagination crafted from concrete and glass. The majority were apartment blocks that eventually blurred into one another after they had passed twenty of them, but there were many that were for business, giant corporate logos emblazoned across the entire building and their colours seeping into the glass and decorations. It seemed every building was trying to outdo the ones that came before it, each one get taller, bigger and shinier, and Alaska could only wonder how many millions, maybe even billions, had gone into glorifying these office spaces.

The smallest buildings there passed were three storeys, and they only contained restaurants and shops. Alaska's stomach growled to try some of the cuisine they could smell, having being taken away before having a proper breakfast, but annoying her hosts may not be the right thing to do.

"Unfortunately, the gym is on the other side of the city, so there will be a bit of a drive," Jericho said as he sat across from them, his smile warm and friendly but his eyes suggesting something sinister behind it.

"We are perfectly fine with that," Alaska replied, and she leaned back in her seat. She had only seen limousines in the movies, so when the long black vehicle had pulled out in front, she had expected a celebrity to strut out and start signing autographs. However, the sleek limo has for her, along with Sandy, Daisy, Evelyn and Jericho, and it was more than Alaska could have expected. Cream leather seating went around the entire cabin, and there was plush purple carpet, two mini fridges and a small television. Alaska, Sandy and Daisy sat to one side, with the Athlew's opposite, and an awkward silence in between.

"Ooooh, is that the Department Store in the distance?" Sandy said, pointing out the window. Alaska wasn't sure if she was being sincere or just trying to break the tension, but they all stared out the tinted black windows. The Department Store was the largest building in the city, towering over everything else beneath it. It was painted a luminous purple that made it stand out even more, and it looked wider than anything Alaska had seen.

"The Department Store is the cornerstone of our industry," Evelyn said stiffly as they drove on. "We get about two million people through there every year, and some people come to Celadon simply to have a taste of what is on offer. There are over twenty floors, and if there is a product that is available in Kanto, than we sell it."

"Good to know. Once this is all over, I might just celebrate with a bit of shopping spree," Alaska said, flashing them all a smile, and the limousine fell silent once again. Evelyn gave her a pursed look, while Daisy's face read _'What are you thinking?'_ Alaska simply sunk into the chair and watched the buildings slide past.

She had not meant to lose it at everyone at the breakfast table. That had been the last thing she meant to say. But the one thing that was starting to annoy Alaska was how everyone she met seemed to have an idea of what she should do with her life. Keeping up this war with Gideon was destroying her, but being locked away inside a mansion was not going to help her either. Alaska wanted to finish her Pokemon journey and get the remaining badges that were simply waiting for her, and she was not getting to let them think they can simply shut her away from the life that she actually wants to lead.

_I was too rash though, _Alaska thought, the comforts of the seat slipping away as she stared towards Jericho. She had only begun arguing with them over their attempts to lock her away and not let her do anything. Alaska had a funny feeling that Jericho had realised this and was simply trying to torture her, but there was something in his smile and the steely look on Evelyn's face that was simply unsettling. There was not much she knew about Alexis: the gym leader had been hired as a temporary replacement when Erika quit and disappeared within a few days, and had proved successful enough for the league to keep her. Alaska should have done more research on her and prepared for battle, but her words had forced their hands.

_This is how it always happens though, _Alaska thought bitterly to herself. Everything that had happened recently had been based on rash decisions. She'd attacked the shadowed man without a second thought, and had gone after Gideon in Lavender Town, had destroyed the generators at the Power Plant on purpose, fought with Chloe and ruined the bar. All of those decisions had been the results of anger and quick thinking, doing the first thing that came to mind because it seemed like the right thing. Some of her intentions may have gotten through all the destruction, but mostly Alaska was only hurting those around her: Paige, Sandy, Nadia, Trevor, Daisy, all had been hurt by her rashness, and it was becoming too much to handle.

_I need to reach a decision about my life, and soon, _Alaska thought as the limousine rounded a bend. _Latios has warned me about continuing with this, the 'Elites' want me to fight, the Athlew family and the spies want me to hide, and the fortune teller thinks I need control… one of them has to have the right idea about what to do. _The one thing that was clear though was that Alaska had become too deep in this mysterious plot that Gideon was controlling. If she kept fighting in it, there was a chance Alaska would only get hurt more, and the entire war was becoming too draining and demanding of her time. But after what Gideon did to Sandy, Alaska wanted to see him pay…

"Oh look, we're nearly there," Jericho said suddenly, his voice cutting through the silence, and Alaska snapped out of her day dream, though a cold feeling lingered throughout her body. She, Sandy and Daisy stared out the window as they turned onto a fairly quiet road. It was a gardener's dream, rows and rows of flower beds flanking the car, each one coming in a different set of colours. There was a soft breeze outside that made the flowers all dance, and Alaska became lost in the beauty, feeling a pang of home sickness as she thought of all the flowering her mother use to do.

The car came to a sudden halt, making them all lurch forwards, only Jericho and Evelyn remaining posed – clearly, they had practiced the art of remaining still in a limo. The driver suddenly appeared at the door, holding it open, and Jericho beamed his sneaky smile as he signalled for Alaska to move.

"What lovely manners you have," she said with an acidic smile and stepped out onto the road, relieved to finally be out of the tension the limo had housed. Alaska found herself on one of the neatest roads she had ever seen in her entire life. The grass was perfectly trimmed and shined the brightest green as the sun pounced off it. The road was neatly formed and kept in by orangey-red bricks, and not a single piece of gravel was out of place. There were no skyscrapers, boutiques or restaurants nearby, and Alaska wondered dif they had stopped in the right place. But she saw Sandy staring past her in awe, and Alaska turned in the same direction, feeling her jaw drop as she moved.

The Celadon City Gym was the most beautiful building in the city. It was a shining structure of jade light, the entire outside made from panels of green tinted glass that shone like emeralds. It was held together by giant chunks of wood that had been polished to glow as well, and vines were draped across them like leafy green scarves.

"This place is beautiful," Alaska whispered, and she began moving towards it, the radiant nature of it overpowering.

"It is called the Greenhouse by the locals," Evelyn explained behind her. "I have seen many of the other gyms, and frankly, it is the best one in Kanto, maybe even the best in the world!" Alaska had to agree. None of the others had shone like this or made her so willing to enter, and all of her problems began to drift away as Alaska moved towards it.

"Alaska, wait up!" She paused and turned back around as Sandy rushed up alongside, her lavender dress bouncing as she moved. "Alaska, do you think you're ready for this? I know you've been training for the past few weeks, but you only woke up an hour ago! Do you think it is wise to have a battle right now?" Alaska sighed, the single action letting all her happiness about the beautiful gym slip right out of her.

"To be honest, I would have liked a chance to sort out a proper battle strategy, but they've taken that from me. I want to wait, but I have to prove to these people that I cannot let them control me. If I can defeat Alexis, they might just let me go about my journey on my own accord." Alaska forced a smile, trying to encourage herself more than Sandy, but the silky voice of the fortune teller crept back to her, the cards with the scales and Apricorn Ball flashing before her eyes.

"And what if you fail, what then?" Sandy said, her tone suddenly serious. "You have a good team, but it has been a while since your last proper battle that was not just for training. There is always the chance you will lose, and then what can you do? They will only end up controlling you in the end." Her words felt like a stab to the gut, and Alaska knew that she was right, but there were other reasons for her actions.

"I know I could lose, but it's the same with every battle," she replied, whispering now as the others began to move towards them. "And you are right that I haven't had a gym battle since Surge, and that's why I want to do this. I need to know that I can still face gym leaders and that I haven't ruined my chances of achieving my original goals." It was almost as painful to say as it was to hear, but Alaska had to say it. Her mind was being turned to custard by all the mysterious questions that surrounded her, but she still had the central big decision to make: did she defeat the League or defeat Gideon first? The imbalance scales flashed before her eyes again, and Alaska knew that she had to make this decision soon. All the warnings and worries she had received of late were clouding around her mind, and it was past time that Alaska finally made a decision that was right for her.

Sandy looked both shocked and saddened by what Alaska had said, and Alaska felt a twist of guilt, but Daisy, Jericho and Evelyn were upon them now, and there was no more time for discussion. Alaska merely gave her a reassuring smile, hoping it would be enough. "Are you still going to cheer for me?"

"You know I will," Sandy replied, but the look in her eyes told Alaska the smile was not enough.

"Come along you two!" Jericho boomed as he walked past, walking with a spring in his step. "We phoned Alexis ahead, and she is waiting for us. You can't keep a gym leader waiting: it will only cause them to defeat you faster." Alaska turned towards him and glared, the cocky smile on his face making her want to kick him where it hurts.

"Tell me Jericho," she said, a gleeful thought crossing her mind, "are you worried about how when you hit puberty, it is going to look as if your balls are constantly on fire?" Alaska smiled as Jericho's beam disappeared in a second, and she walked past him and towards the parting glass doors when her head held high, Sandy unable to contain her laughter alongside her, and the look on Evelyn's face that the glass reflected was enough to make her day.

The sliding doors parted as Alaska approached, and she was hit with a beautiful mix of aromas that reminded her at once of the old garden store her mother use to go to, playing outside after it had rained, and some tropical perfume her sister use to own. She paused in the entrance, letting the scents wash over her before she examined the gym, but before Alaska could even do that, something laughed behind her.

"Oooh, look what the Persian coughed up!" The voice sneered. "It's be a while darling, where have you been?"

"Have you missed me Clyde?" Alaska said, turning to look above the doors, wondering where the security system was placed in this gym. "I didn't think you were the sort to care."

"I am shocked Alaska," Clyde replied in his droll voice. "We're besties, aren't we? In fact, if I had known you were coming, I would have set up for your arrival! You know, locking down the building, securing everything so your monsters don't destroy it, the usual."

"Oh Clyde, your so considerate," Alaska said, beaming up at the system, and turned away with the smile lingering on her face. Throwing an insult back at Jericho had brightened up her mood, and Alaska was beginning to feel more like her old self again. The wonderful smells she got from the gym were stirring up old memories as well, and Alaska gave Sandy an overly bright beam as they made their way into the gym.

As they walked through, Alaska wondered if the glass outside was actually green or if it just reflected the colours inside. The gym seemed more like a garden shop inside as they walked along a grassy floor through flowerbeds that made the ones outside look dead by comparison, a rainbow of colours smiling brightly up at her. Alaska saw bushes and trees that hade no place being inside, yet somehow it worked in here. Gym attendants and trainers dressed in green dresses that made them blend in were wandering around, Bellsprout, Oddish, Hoppip and strange Grass types Alaska didn't recognise following behind. All of them smiled and waved at Alaska and Sandy, and the Pokemon did the same as well.

"This is such a happy gym," Alaska said, unable to help herself. She remembered the cold, steely appearance of the Vermilion Gym, the dusty emptiness of Pewter and the snappy tone Misty had used on them, and found herself slowly falling more in love with this gym.

"I LOOOOOVE THIS GYM!" Sandy screamed next to her, causing Alaska to jump, and suddenly there were PokeBalls out. Butterfree was released into the air, and instantly she was drawn towards a bed of sunflowers that reached up to Alaska's shoulders. Bellsprout slumped on the ground, and her beady black eyes lit up in excitement at the world she had entered. Alaska was pleased that they were enjoying themselves as well, and was wondering if her own Pokemon might appreciate it when there was a tiny squeak.  
"Was that you?" Alaska asked indignantly, and turned to face Sandy. However, her question was answered by another tiny squeak, and despite her best efforts, Alaska found herself swooning. The tiniest Pichu she had ever laid eyes upon was resting in Sandy's arms, looking up at Alaska with wide eyes and wonderment that only newborns can manage.

"I haven't shown him to you yet, have I?" Sandy said, smiling proudly and gleefully. "Isn't he just so adorable? When I first got a proper chance to lay my eyes upon him after Daisy and I had left the tunnel, my heart stopped for a second, and no offence, but he was the only thing on my mind for the time." Alaska shrugged it off and they laughed, and Pichu wiggled at the noise, yawning so that his rosy pink cheeks stretched, his spiked black tail seeming to wag in happiness.

"Do you want to hold him?" Sandy said, moving her arms to Alaska.

"What? Hold him? Me? Oh… ok," Alaska said, stunned, and she scooped the Tiny Mouse Pokemon up. Pichu gurgled for a second, but than he settled into her arms and continued to stare up at her with eyes too big for his head. Alaska felt her breathe disappear, and her heart twisted as she remembered he had hatched in the Underground Tunnel, only moments before Alaska nearly doomed them all.

"There's no need to cry!" Sandy said, patting Alaska on the shoulder. Alaska hadn't even felt the tear creep down her face, but knew it was one of guilt, the innocent Pichu in her arms unaware of how close Alaska had come to killing him. It only made Alaska want to start this battle sooner so she could finally reach her decision and put everything behind her. She passed Pichu back to Sandy and wiped the tear away, turning around, ready to find Alexis.

The search ended quicker than she expected.

"Hello, you must be Alaska." Alaska jumped, having not noticed the woman appear behind her, and wondered how long she had been there and if she had seen the tear. She forced a smile as shook Alexis' hand, and quickly examined the gym leader. She was wearing a tiered turquoise dress that emitted happiness and positivity, with matching leather boots that nearly reached her knees. Alexis had long black hair tied back in a ponytail that brushed against the top of her dress, and was wearing only minimal amounts of makeup on her round but smiling face. Alaska had been expecting someone more intimidating after the last few gym leaders she had met, but everything about Alexis, from her warm eyes to the tips of boots, showed that she was going to be a much nicer, friendlier person to interact with.

"Jericho called ahead to let me know to expect the great Alaska Acevedo," Alexis said, still smiling. "I must say that I have heard a fair few things about you from the other gym leaders and from Jericho, so you must know that I am expecting a great battle!"

"I wouldn't listen to a word they say, I don't think any of them actually like me," Alaska replied, trying to make it a joke but the bitterness crept through anyway. Alexis continued smiling in a sympathetic way though, but her eyes darted towards Sandy now.

"You must be Sandy, I have heard good things about you too," the gym leader said. "I was saddened to hear you had been shot, I hope you are recovering well? Oh my goodness, look at that little fellow!" Alexis leaned in and began to stroke Pichu's head. The Electric type stared blankly up at her for a moment before looking back at Alaska, and she smiled to see the little creature was more interested in her. It warmed her, but did nothing to take away her annoyance at being reminded how everyone was watching and talking about her.

"Oh look, here come the others," Alexis said, and Alaska and Sandy turned as Daisy, Jericho and Evelyn marched through the rows of flowerbeds. "I am good friends with the Athlew family. I helped Jericho out a few years ago when he got in a bad situation, and after we fought a rampaging Dragonite, we became quite good friends. However, I don't think I have ever seen him this annoyed." _That_ made Alaska feel better, and she smiled and waved at Jericho as he approached, his face almost as red as his hair. Daisy gave her a warning look though, and Alaska stopped, though kept the smile on.

"Hello Daisy, it's been a while," Alexis said, and leaned forwards to kiss Daisy on the cheeks. Alaska wondered if her friendly nature was going to transition into the battlefield. It would be wonderful to battle someone that let Alaska go first all the time and told her Pokemon to accept every attack out of courtesy.

"Can we just get down to the battling please?" Jericho said impatiently, glaring at Alaska.

"Well, that is up for Alaska to decide," Alexis said, and she turned towards her, her permanent smile lighting up the world. "What do you say Alaska, are you ready to battle?" Alaska paused for a moment, glancing between the people around her. Jericho and Evelyn both looked furious, Daisy looked uncomfortable and Sandy's eyes were wide and staring, trying to convey her feelings in a single stare. The Athlews wanted her to battle for the wrong reasons, and Sandy knew that Alaska would struggle against the gym leader, and Alaska had half a mind to agree with her.

But than her eyes lay upon Pichu, the Tiny Mouse staring up at Alaska in permanent wonderment. Her actions had nearly killed the Pokemon before he had even gotten a chance to live, another act in an endless string bad calls and wrong decisions made on the moment. Alaska had put herself into this very situation through the same stupidity and rashness, and it was time she put a stop to it. She needed to start making the right decisions, and she needed to get balance and control in her life. And there was only one way Alaska could find out what to do next.

"Let's battle," she said, smiling determinedly and clasped a PokeBall in her hands, hoping that she had finally made a right call.

**Up next: the Celadon Gym Battle! And it will be the most exciting and unexpected one yet ;)**


	67. Chapter 48: The Grass is Always Meaner

**Here we go! After a long break, we finally have a new gym battle! I think this may be the longest one yet, so set back, relax, and enjoy what is to come!**

**Chapter Forty Eight: The Grass is Always Meaner **

Never had Alaska been so determined to win in her entire life.

She stood silently on the challenger's end of the battle field, trying hard not to be taken in by the beauty that made up the back half of the Celadon Gym. The flowerbeds and pot plants remained firmly at the front to entice and delight any visitors, but Erika, as Alexis had explained, had designed the back half to be purely about battling but still retain some of the garden elements. The field was simply knee high grass with the markings painted on, bordered by the challengers and defenders areas and the stand. Celadon's stands were three tiered wooden blocks, their supports wrapped with ivy and the wood painted a rich mahogany colour to give earthy tones. Green light created by the outside glass poured in here, giving everything a jade glow, making even Alaska radiate beauty.

Alaska stared briefly at the people in the stands. On one side were all the gym attendants, the pretty young women with their Grass and Bug type Pokemon surrounding them, all smiling and looking happy with what was going on, and every seat was filled.

The other side was completely different. Only Sandy wore a smile of the four people 'supporting' Alaska, but it was a tense and uncomfortable smile, as if the blonde was afraid at being happy for her friend. Evelyn and Jericho were both scowling at the other end of the row, closer to Alexis than Alaska and reaffirming where they stood. Daisy's face was blank, and she looked bored with what was about to happen.

_Great support guys, thanks, _Alaska thought bitterly. At least Sandy had kept Butterfree and Bellsprout out to help cheer for her, though she wished her friend would bring Pichu back. Staring at the small Electric type only stirred up her guilt and fears, and Alaska needed a clear mind for the battle that was about to go down.

"Are you ready to battle Alaska?" Alexis called from across her very literal battlefield. The gym leader was still smiling warmly at her challenger, but Alaska could see something rising in her eyes: battle fury and determination, a readiness to battle and a certainty of winning.

"You bet I am," Alaska replied with a slight growl, and glanced briefly at Jericho and Evelyn again. They were about to see what sort of trainer Alaska truly was, and never again would Alaska be questioned about her decisions. As long as she won, everything would turn out the way Alaska wanted it.

"Very good," Alexis replied. "I will be using three Pokemon, but you are allowed to use as many as you would like. The battle will be over once every Pokemon on either of our teams has fainted, and the person with the most remaining Pokemon will be the winner. Annabelle, would you mind refereeing for me please?" A perky, stick thin blonde rose up from the stands, looking stunned at being chosen and whispered excitedly to her friends, reminding Alaska too much of how Chloe use to act. She was tempted to throw a PokeBall at the blonde's head, but only just resisted.

"Trainers, are you ready?" Annabelle called out in a surprisingly booming voice from the middle of the field. Alexis nodded, and Alaska repeated the movement. She had crafted a quick battle strategy in her mind, and could only hope that it would be good enough. "Alaska, how many Pokemon shall you enter as part of your team?" Alaska was taken aback by this, and she quickly fumbled with the PokeBalls in her pocket. Darwin would be a risk to use, but was it a bigger risk not to have his strength at her disposal?

"Four," she announced, and caught Sandy gasping on the sidelines. Her heart began to beat faster and faster, and Alaska doubted if this had been the right move.

"Very good. There four-on-three battle between the challenger, Alaska, and the Celadon Gym Leader, Alexis, shall begin!" Annabelle boomed. "Trainers, send out your Pokemon and let the battle commence!"

"Jumpluff, I choose you!" Alexis called sweetly, and threw her PokeBall into the air.

"Paige, this ones on you," Alaska said, and let her own PokeBall rise up above her. A Flying type against Grass types seemed to make sense, and Alaska knew Paige had the power to win this battle for her.

"Pidgeeeey!" The Pidgeotto cried as she formed, flapping her wings to hover above the grassy fields. Paige instantly took in the setting and gave Alaska a determined nod, showing her readiness to battle. Alaska smiled back at her, and turned to check out their opponent. She had seen Jumpluff before on a gardening show her mother use to watch, and recognized the blue spherical Cottonweed Pokemon with its three yellow spores bobbing out from its body. Jumpluff seemed more cutesy than frightening, and Alaska wondered what Alexis was playing at.

"Alaska, you have the first move," Annabelle said.

"Gladly," Alaska said, and realised the battle had truly begun. "Quick Attack!"

"Cotton Spore," Alexis replied. Paige shot forwards at blinding speeds, and slammed into Jumpluff beak-first. The Grass type squealed in pain as she rolled backwards through the air, and Alaska smirked to herself: too easy.

"Pluff Pluff!" Jumpluff cried, and waved her spores around. Large Cotton Spores flew off and hovered towards Paige as she turned back around, attaching themselves to her feathers. Alaska was stunned to see Paige drop several metres from the weight of them, and a pained look appeared on her face.

"Come on Paige, you can get through this!" She shouted. "Aerial Ace, go!"

"Sunny Day," Alexis commanded instantly, her voice calm. Alaska looked across at the gym leader, wondering what exactly she was playing at. Jumpluff looked calm as her top spore glowed a flaming red, and a ball of fire was flung up towards the ceiling. Orange light spread across the tiles like butter across toast, and instantly the temperature in the gym doubled. Alaska waved a hand in front of face to cool herself as Paige slowly moved back up in the sky, her wings glowing as she moved. The Cotton Spores seemed to have halved her speed, and Alaska knew this would be a serious disadvantage the further they went in the battle.

"Pidge!" Paige said, slashing her wings across Jumpluff and sending her spinning. Alaska noticed that Jumpluff had simply waited for Paige to strike, not showing any signs of trying to avoid the attack or escape it. Alaska reminded herself it was impossible to avoid an Aerial Ace, but trainers would still try and flee from it…

"Aerial Ace again!" Alaska yelled, knowing she needed a non-missing move and wanted to see exactly what Alexis was up to. That was when she saw it: a glint appeared in Alexis' eyes, and the gym leader briefly glanced at Jericho. Alaska turned and saw the rich boy was smiling widely: unknowing, Alaska had stepped into some sort of trap.

"Solarbeam!" Alexis said, her voice calm and normal, but it rang with power, and Alaksa's heart sank. Sunny Day would instantly make the attack work. It all made sense now. But Paige was a Flying type, so the attack should not be able to be effective… not unless there was another aspect to it.

"PLUFF!" Jumpluff yelled, and suddenly she moved. Alaska blinked, and one second the Cottonweed Pokemon was high near her Sunny Day, the next she was a blue blur appearing directly behind Paige, her top spore glowing a dazzling green that made the tiles pale in comparison.

"Chlorophyll…," Alaska realized as her heart disappeared into her stomach. Jumpluff's speed had been doubled by the bright sunshine, and Paige's speed had been lowered… everything was piecing together.

"JUUUUUUUM!" Jumpluff yelled as the ball got brightly, and Alaska looked away. But nothing could stop her from hearing Paige's pained scream that echoed inside the gym, nor block the bright flash that illuminated everything, or the thud that shook the very ground she stood upon.

Alaska felt sick. This was not what she had expected. It was a battle, and she should have known it would be difficult, but Alexis was sneaky, clever and cunning, her battling brutal and packing a powerful punch that Alaska had not anticipated. She turned back to the field to see Jumpluff now floated a metre above an indent in the grass, and Alaska wondered if Paige was still conscious, if she had survived the terrible attack.

"Pidgeotto is still able to battle," Annabelle called. "Alaska, what will you do?"

_Good question, _Alaska thought bitterly. Bringing Paige back and letting her rest was the right thing, but would Paige be able to battle later? If this was who Alexis used for her first Pokemon, what would her other two Pokemon be like?

"Quick Attack!" Alaska shouted, hoping it would work.

"Solarbeam!" Alexis boomed, her voice filling the air. Silence had fallen from the crowd as the few people watching leaned in to see what happened next. Alaska peered over the tall grass and towards Paige, seeing the very tips of her Pidgeotto's feathers rise up. A soft but pained groan came from the centre, and feeble white flashes briefly lit up the field, but Paige could not find it in herself to get back into the air.

"PLUFF!" Jumpluff screamed, and she absorbed the sunlight in so quickly that Alaska could not prepare herself. This time, she watched as the Solarbeam struck Paige, the energy coming off it making the grass dance wildly. Jumpluff had moved closer, and the green spotlight bored into the ground, dirt flying up and the shockwave created making Annabelle's dress flap. Alaska wanted to scream, she wanted to throw something at the Pokemon and make her stop, but she could not bring herself to do it. She could only think of Paige as the Solarbeam dissipated, and how rashly and stupidly she had gone blindly into this gym battle.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle," Annabelle announced, the five words ringing in the silence. Alaska looked up with a pain in her heart, her chest constricting, her throat tightening. This had all happened too quickly for her to process it. Paige had only been flying a minute earlier. How could Alexis have destroyed her so quickly? None of the other gym leaders had been this ruthless. What had Alaska gotten herself into?

Mindlessly, she withdrew Paige's unconscious form, staring sadly down at as the red light came back towards her. _Sorry Paige, _Alaska thought as she put the PokeBall away, _I should have been more prepared. I shouldn't have let you go into this battle…I should not even be in this battle._

"Come on Alaska, choose your next Pokemon!" Jericho yelled from the stands, and Alaska looked up as he flashed a smile at the gym attendants sitting opposite him. They all giggled and flushed, and Alaska wished she could hit the whole bloody lot of them.

"Come on Alaska, you can do it!" Sandy yelled, shouting twice as loud as everyone else but kept going despite this. Butterfree was flying above her, her wings sparkling in the unnatural sunlight as they flapped and danced with her movements, and Bellsprout was waving her vines around in a sort of cheer.

"Despicable," Evelyn muttered, her crisp voice carrying, but Alaska smiled, pleased to see that Sandy was still in her corner. Her friend was smiling warmly, looking as encouraging as possible, and Alaska felt the weight of the first loss lessen.

"You can beat her Alaska!" Sandy cried. "Don't let their poisonous words beat you!" Alaska was taken aback, trying not to let it show on her face her surprise at Sandy's wording. She remembered how Sandy had reminded her about Frances's defeat of Gideon's Electrode during her gym battle with Surge, and realised what Sandy was trying to say.

"Alaska, you must release your next Pokemon," Annabelle said with bulging eyes. Alaska pulled out Nadia's Great Ball at these words, but paused before throwing it. Had she really trained with Nadia enough to send her into battle? The Nidoran would have a type advantage, but would that be enough to defeat speedy Jumpluff or any of the other Pokemon Alexis sent out?

_What other option do you have? _Alaska reminded herself bitterly. _Nadia is tough, she will be able to fight. _Alaska grimaced, hoping she was right, and tossed the Great Ball onto the field.

"Nadia, show them your stuff!" The ball spun threw the air and landed amongst the field, the green grass swallowing the light and Nadia, leaving only a hint of her purple body between the blades. Alaska had not realised how tall the grass, and wondered how many more traps she would fall into before this battle was over. Alexis was still smiling across the field, but Alaska could not see it was a smug, self satisfied smile, the type Chloe and Amanda use to wear whenever Alaska stuffed up.

"You can defeat these people Nadia!" Alaska yelled, and the Nidoran chirped back, her tiny legs pounding against the ground. "Poison Sting, let's go!"

"Jumpluff, return!" Alexis yelled, and two PokeBalls appeared in her hands faster than Alaska had ever seen. Jumpluff turned into light, but she had barely left the field before the second ball was flying through the air. "Vinnie, your turn!" Alaska blinked in shock, taken aback by the speed, and watched as a larger Pokemon began to form on solid ground. She knew plenty about Tangela, having seen several when she had been to the beaches near Pallet, and presumed that the creature that landed was its evolved form: a giant hairy beast, a face hidden by the blue-green vines that made up Vinnie's body, only two wide eyes peering out from the mess. Tangrowth had two long arms that swung pathetically from the side, and Alaska wondered how fast a Pokemon like this could be compared to Jumpluff.

"Nido Nido!" Nadia squealed, and she jumped up, firing the purple stings across the field. Tangrowth stood there and took it, barely showing any signs of pain or registering the attack, and Alaska cursed, hoping that a bit of poison would have done the trick.

"Alright than Nadia, go in for a Skull Bash!" She shouted. The move required Nadia to charge up, and she watched as the Poison Pin Pokemon landed, and heard her kicking the ground, building up the strength to run forwards. If she could survive one hit, than Nadia could be able to severely harm or even knock out Vinnie the Tangrowth. Alexis was still smiling, showing no signs of fear, instead making Alaska worry.

"Wring Out, go!" Alexis cried. Vinnie didn't make any attempts to move forwards, and for a moment, Alaska wondered if he had even heard. But than she blinked, and suddenly Tangrowth's arms had shot out, stretching out to twice their length, making Alaska gasp in shock. The red-tipped arms grabbed onto Nadia, and though she screamed and struggled, they wrapped around her and lifted her up. Alaska clutched her chest as she watched the arms move and constrict her Nidoran: they covered her body, only small signs of purple coming through, but while she could not see her, Alaska could hear Nadia's cries as the life was crushed out of her, and she could barely stand up.

"You can pull through this Nadia!" Alaska shouted, her voice shaking as she spoke. "Push through and use Skull Bash, run across his arms!" A brief look of shock crossed Alexis' face, and Alaska allowed herself to calm down, glad that her order had thrown her. She was even happier when Nadia yelled out, a cry of triumph rather than pain, and pushed through the grip.

"RAN RAN RAN!" Nadia yelled, and she sprinted forwards at a stunning speed, using Vinnie's right arm and shooting across, her head glowing a dazzling white. Jericho and Evelyn looked stunned from the sidelines, and Alaska smiled, pleased to have shaken up their plans.

"Power Whip," Alexis commanded, her voice calm and cool. Alaska looked back on the battle and saw Nadia was still running, the right arm still outstretched, but the left arm was being drawn back in and glowing a lime green that made the grass sparkle. It was only too late that Alaska realised what was about to happen, and she went to cry out, but her voice caught in her throat.

"Tan," Vinnie said simply, and he brought his left arm around. Nadia jumped, diving down head first towards Tangrowth's head, but was not quick enough: the glowing green arm swung around from beneath her, wider than her entire body, and Nadia gave a painful squeak as she was sent spiralling up to the ceiling, the attack so forceful that she moved back to Alaska's end of the field. The trainer looked up and nearly collapsed as Nadia smashed into the glass ceiling, and then fell down with shards surrounding her.

"No," Alaska cried, and she held her arms out. Nadia fell into them, her tiny body only a slight weight in her arms, and she looked down at her Nidoran: eyes shut, body still twitching, but was starting to slow down. It had been her first gym battle as well, and Alaska had failed her.

"Nidoran is unable to battle," Annabelle announced, and Alaska was forced to withdraw her. She looked up at Alexis, at Jericho and Evelyn, at Annabelle and her attendants behind her, trying to give them the angriest looks she could muster, but her emotions and guilt were getting the best of her, and Alaska silently sent out her next Pokemon.

"Frances, you can do this!" She said, trying to sound encouraging, but even she heard her defeated she sounded. The Parasect formed in the field, her mushroom rising above the grass, though her pincers and main body were too low to the ground for Alaska's liking.

"Beat them, crush them, pinch them, spray them!" Sandy chanted from the stands, and Bellsprout did her weird vine-flailing dance. Alaska half-smiled at this, but nothing was of any encouragement at the moment. All she could think of was how strong Frances had been defeating Gideon's Electrode, Lt. Surge's Voltorb and her powerful Solarbeam.

"Solarbeam, now!" Alaska yelled, checking that the Sunny Day was still in play. Frances instantly began to absorb in sunlight, and a powerful ball of green energy glowed from the bottom of the field.

"Wring Out," Alexis commanded, and the two overlong arms shot out once more. Alaska winced as they wrapped around Frances's mushroom, and the Parasect yelled and squirmed as she was lifted up, all of her health squeezed and crushed.

"PARAAAAA!" She cried, and Alaska smiled as the Solarbeam was released. The powerful green spotlight hit Vinnie squarely in the stomach, sending the Tangrowth flying, dropping Frances back to the ground in the process. The gym attendants all groaned as Vinnie smashed into the back wall, Alexis having moved out of the way just in time, but Alaska only felt glee, knowing that this could be her chance. But as the happy thought crossed her mind, things suddenly became darker. She looked up and saw the Sunny Day was fading away, resembling water going down a sink hole, and she cursed – no more Solarbeam's, as charging it up was far too risky.

"Metal Claw!" Alaska yelled. Frances began to race forwards while Vinnie lay confused against the back wall, struggling to get to his feet.

"AncientPower!" Alexis yelled. Vinnie leapt up as soon as he heard the command, and he raised his arms above his head, the red tips glowing white. Frances was only halfway across the field when dust began to rise up from the ground, forming into glowing boulders in the air.

"This can't be good," Alaska mumbled.

"TAN!" Vinnie yelled, and he directed his arms forwards. The AncientPower moved, and Frances found herself bombarded with the dust boulders. The sound of the exploding dust muffled any other noises, but Alaska knew Frances would be overwhelmed by the attack. She looked across at Annabelle, but the referee was making no sound, so her Parasect would have to rage on.

"Metal Claw again!" Alaska yelled, hoping Frances still had the strength. A cloud of brown dust engulfed the field now, and she could not see anything past the halfway point.

"AncientPower!" Alexis repeated from behind the veil, and Alaska knew that this would be it. The dust was slowly clearing, and she could see Frances was on a tilt, her mushroom leaning to one side above the tips of the grass. She was making no signs of moving forwards, even as the AncientPower rose up once more.

"TAN!" Vinnie's voice echoed in the silence that filled the gym, and Alaska shut her eyes as the boulders exploded again and again, dust rising up from the field as Frances was struck once more.

"Parasect is unable to battle," Annabelle called, peering through the dust, and Alaska brought Frances back. She was feeling angry at everyone around her, wanting nothing more than to set her Pokemon on those that had brought her here. But as she clutched Frances's Great Ball in her hands, Alaska knew that it was all her own fault. She had put her Pokemon into this position, she had decided to battle even though she was unprepared, she had let herself get overcome with anger at Jericho and Evelyn…

_Latios had even warned me, _Alaska thought, putting Frances's Great Ball away. This morning seemed so long ago, but Alaska only just remembered his words. This gym battle was indeed her greatest challenge yet, and Alaska should have heeded his advice.

She pulled her final PokeBall out, trying, with difficulty, to block her guilt out, and it was only a second before she threw it that she realised who was inside. Alaska paused and stared down at the PokeBall, imaging Darwin rampaging inside. The Primeape had the strength, and he could definitely put a stop to this onslaught, but would he actually listen to her? Would Darwin be able to control himself, or would she leave the gym in ruins?

"Hurry up Alaska, we don't have all day!" A voice called out cockily, and Alaska glanced up at Jericho. The flame haired rich boy was grinning broadly, clearly elated with Alaska's failure. A mental image appeared in her head of Darwin smashing all the artwork within the Athlew Mansion, throwing statues through windows and flipping the glass table over, and Alaska smiled. Without another moment's consideration, she threw the PokeBall onto the field, grinning broadly as she wondered how this would end.

"Darwin, turn this back around!" Alaska cried. Darwin formed in front of her a moment later, and he instantly let out a screech and began jumping. The gym attendants all gasped in shock, and Alaska caught Sandy and Daisy exchanging looks from the stands. A voice in the back of Alaska's head told her this would only end badly, but she ignored it, giving Alaska and Jericho a smile to top their own. "ThunderPunch to start!"

"Vinnie, return," Alexis called, and once again she sent her next Pokemon out before the Tangrowth had even faded away. Alaska thought that Darwin would have been perfect to deal tough blows to the unmoving Tangrowth that had waddled back from the wall, and expected Jumpluff to come back to finish things. However, this Pokemon landed on the ground once more, and a Grass type taller than the others formed on four legs.

Even child around every region could recognize, name and recount facts about the various starter Pokemon unique to each region, and Alaska felt like she was six again as she stared longingly at Alexis' Meganium. She had fawned over the Johto Grass starter as a young girl before her toughness had taken over, and could see why: light green skin that still managed to glow, a face that was permanently smiling, a neck marked by four pink petals that were wobbling slightly. Meganium was the prettiest of all the Starter Pokemon, and Alaska felt mildly guilty about what Darwin would do.

"PRIME!" Darwin shouted, having tensely waited for his new opponent to form, and he sprung forwards with his brilliant speed. The blurred ball of anger shot across the field, and a glowing yellow fist struck Meganium across the face. However, the Herb Pokemon barely registered the move, still smiling as Darwin landed. Alexis remained silent as well, and Alaska wondered why the gym leader had not spoken a single word, remembering exchanging insults and remarks with the previous three.

"Brick Break!" Alaska commanded, judging which of Darwin's moves would cause the most damage.

"Solarbeam!" Alexis cried. Alaska nodded, knowing it was a wise choice for a powerful Grass type to use a powerful move like that, but knew that Darwin's brute strength could deal significant damage. Indeed, Darwin was right near Meganium as she began to absorb in the dimmer sunlight within the gym, and he swung a fist out, catching her in the throat and sending her stumbling backwards. It was not as powerful as she would have liked, but Alaska was satisfied to see Meganium was more fazed.

"Brick Break again!" She shouted in delight, and heard Bellsprout cheering from the stands. A well timed hit could throw Meganium off balance again, and than the Solarbeam would miss, and they would stand a chance… But than Alaska saw Darwin turn back towards her, an annoyed look on his face, and she knew that this was not a good sign.

"APE APE APE!" The Pig Monkey Pokemon grunted, and he grabbed Meganium around her middle, beneath her glowing flowers. Concerned mumblings rose from the crowd as Darwin jumped up, heaving Meganium with him.

"NO! I said Brick Break!" Alaska yelled, the weight of the world crashing down around her, shock and anger engulfing her, but Darwin did not hear. He spun around in midair, and the gym attendants gasped as Meganium was thrown back to the ground in a Seismic Toss. Alaska looked across and saw shock had crossed Alexis' face, and she tried to avoid the gym leader's eye as Meganium landed with a loud and painful thud. The starter skidded through the grass, and Alaska thought she would be harmed, but was taken aback when Meganium's long neck rose from the grass, and a green beam was fired before Darwin had even landed. Sandy's gasp was audible even from a distance, and Alaska watched painfully as her Primeape was sent flying into a corner of the ceiling, smashing into several sections at once before falling to the ground. Larger shards of glass fell this time, but Alaska could not see where they landed, only wincing with each one that shattered.

"Primeape is still able to bat –"

"My Pokemon have names, you realise!" Alaska hissed at Annabelle, and the referee looked as if she had been slapped, but Alaska no longer cared. She thought Darwin would have been able to withstand this gym leader, and could not believe what was happening.

"PRIMEAAAAAPE!" The scream sounded all around them, as if twenty angry Primeape filled the Celadon Gym, and every eye turned towards Darwin as he sprung out from the glass, leaping through the air with his hands positioned like a demented Superman. Both fists glowed yellow and crackled with electricity, and the yellow light was so blinding that Alaska did not realise until Darwin was nearly upon Meganium that something green glittered in his fist…

"NO!" Alaska and several gym attendants screamed, and horror filled Alaska's thoughts as she imagined the grass becoming stained with blood, Jericho and Evelyn screaming at her, the gym attendants piling upon her with angry fists and faces…

"FREE!" A defiant cry rose from the stands, and a second before Darwin struck Meganium he was tossed aside, an invisible hand swatting him aside. The gym attendants scattered as the Primeape smashed into the stands, cracking several steps, the shard of glass falling to the ground. Alaska was stunned, unable to believe anything that had just happened: not just Darwin, but the entire gym battle as well. She had walked blindly into this battle, convinced of her own impending victory, and she had let her Pokemon become destroyed. And Alaska reflected on the thought that had crossed her mind when she had unleashed Darwin, and realised where it had nearly brought them.

"Under my official rule as the referee, I hereby call an end to this battle, and declare the gym leader Alexis to be the winner under the official rules of the Indigo League!" Annabelle screamed, her voice nearly hysterically, all calm and cool fading away under the events of the last minute. Alaska silently brought a groaning Darwin back and turned towards Sandy, feeling hollow and dead inside. Butterfree still had a glare on her face and was flapping her wings with more vigour than usual, clearly ready to initiate another attack if necessary. Sandy stood beneath her main Pokemon, looking as shocked as Alaska felt, cradling Pichu as if he was about to be attacked as well, Bellsprout cowering behind her legs. Alaska wanted to say something, but words caught in her throat, a mixture of self disgust, anger, guilt and shock.

"That was outrageous!" Evelyn Athlew cried, not directly to Alaska but her voice carried in the stunned silence of the gym. "I have never seen such a violent Pokemon in all my life!" Alaska wanted to yell her, insult her, pull off a witty remark, force her to try the brownies that weighed down her bag, but she remained where she was, unable to move. And there was no denying the truth to her words… _you need to find some level of control, whether it is with yourself, you're Pokemon … back to your rightful path … give you the balance you need…_ Alaska wanted to be sick, but she would not throw up in front of these people. Her mind was spinning, and Alaska was starting to forget where she was or who was around her. She could only think of what had just happened to her… what had just happened to her Pokemon…

"Alaska, may I give you some advice?" Alaska turned to face a woman with black hair and a Meganium, and it took her a moment to realise it was Alexis. "You fight well, and I believe you are a strong trainer, but you lack a sense of focus and well thought out decisions. You need to plan out every move before you give a command, and think of strategy and how that move fits in to your wider plan. These are the most important things about all battles in general, and you should think about these before you challenge me again. Oh, and lastly," Alexis said, as she turned to face Jericho and Evelyn, "try not to cause any more damage to my gym." Alaska nodded, feeling both gratitude and a desire to punch her, but mostly she felt nothing. She put Darwin's PokeBall back with the others, feeling the smooth, metallic surfaces and thinking of the unconscious Pokemon inside. She had let them all down, she had destroyed them based on rushed decisions and bouts of anger. Alaska had suffered her greatest defeat, and it was a struggle to hold back the angry tears that were filling her eyes… not only had she lost the battle, but Alaska had gotten the answer she had been looking for.

Her gym journey was over… there was no turning back from this.

**Things are going to be pretty interesting for the rest of this arc ;) The official fiftieth chapter is coming up, so look out for something very special occurring because of that, something I don't think anyone will be expecting **


	68. Chapter 49: It's a Freaks Game

**Sorry for another long delay! Hopefully this chapter and the next three (which will be done soon as well, fingers crossed) will make up for it - I think the rest of this arc will be some of the best yet!**

**Chapter Forty Nine: It's a Freaks Game**

_I lost…_

The two words were the only things Alaska could think of. She had no idea how much time had passed since the gym battle, and had no clue where she was in this unfamiliar city. Alaska simply stared off into space, ignoring the world and the people around her, the two words replaying over and over again within her mind. _I lost… I lost… I lost…_

"You can always rebattle her, there is no shame in that," Sandy had said at one point, though Alaska could not say where or when, and the comment was hardly helpful. One loss was all Jericho and Evelyn would need to find a way to keep her hidden away from Gideon. One loss was all Gideon needed to gain superiority above her. They would all wonder how Alaska could possibly defeat the scientist if she could not even defeat a gym leader. At one moment, Alaska thought it was funny how her enemy and the ones meant to be protecting her had a common reason to undermine her, though her depression and shock pushed the thoughts from her system.

_I lost… I lost… I fucking lost…_

"It is going to rain soon," Daisy said, bringing Alaska out of her thoughts for a moment. She looked up to see the slate coloured clouds looming above, perfectly reflecting her mood. A number of tall buildings surrounded them, though when Alaska looked around, she saw the green glass gym gleaming despite the lack of sunshine behind them, and realised they must not have gone far, and she wondered how much time had passed… _I lost, I lost…_

"Is the Pokemon Center near?" Sandy asked, clutching Pichu in her arms and looking concerned, the clouds rumbling overhead.

"We won't get there before this downpour begins," Daisy replied, "but my grandfather and Bill have friends just down the street. They could give us shelter, and they might be able to give you some advice Alaska." She smiled at Alaska, but the grin disappeared quickly. Alaska had barely noticed what she said, but realised in a moment that her face must be reflecting her foul and terrible she was feeling. _I lost, I lost. _

"Let's go there," Alaska said, and glanced around for any signs of Alexis, Jericho or Evelyn, but realised quickly that there were not about. _Where is everyone? How long did I blank out? I lost… I lost… _

"The others are staying at the gym," Sandy said when Alaska posed the question to her, her face riddled with concern. "They were going to help tidy up. I suggested we go for a walk to clear your head and you agreed." Alaska thought hard, and she could remember this conversation happening, though she felt as though she had been standing to the side and had not actually been involved. Everything seemed to have passed in a daze, and Alaska could not recall any parts of this apparent walk over the constantly repeating words… _I lost, I lost, I lost_

The clouds continued to rumble as the trio turned down the street, and the first drops of rain brushed against Alaska's face as Daisy led them towards the only office block on the street. It was black and made of glass and metal like every other Celadon building, with an LED sign above the doors bearing 'Game Freak' in flashing colours. The name meant nothing to Alaska, but she followed Sandy and Daisy into the building with a grim smile upon her face, not wishing to be alone in a time like this.

"Nice place," Sandy said as they entered past an extravagant water feature and a black leather lounge suite, though Alaska was barely registering anything, the thought of her loss continuing to plague her every thought. _I lost, I lost… _

"I know, they spent a million redesigning the place last year when their newest game came out," Daisy replied, waving to a blonde bobbed receptionist behind an oversized wooden desk. They stepped inside a cosy elevator and were quickly whisked up, Alaska feeling a sensation in her stomach that she thought could be more related to her battle than the lift.

"So who are these people?" Sandy asked. "Game developers?"

"That's right," Daisy replied with a nod. "They do Pokemon simulation games designed for people unable to go on journeys or as artificial practice for trainers. Game Freak has released over a dozen games and they are insanely popular! My grandfather and Bill have helped them with making strategies and providing some of their research to make the game realistic, as they believe the games help encourage people to go on journeys and promote the proper treatment of Pokemon."

_I bet these games don't involve any sadistic mad scientists or murderous robots, _Alaska thought darkly, but tried not to let it show on her face as Sandy looked fairly interested. The lift came to a halt and the trio stepped onto into what looked like a regular office area, with around fifty or so computers spread across the blue carpeted floor with views of the rain struck city. There were enclosed offices to the right, and Daisy moved towards a second receptionist outside one office and quickly whispered something.

"This place seems pretty cool," Sandy said. Alaska went to say that it was as boring as every other office space, but caught her tongue when she realised Sandy was making the effort to talk to her. It was not her fault Alaska had lost, and she had warned her about taking on the battle without a proper strategy. _I lost, she didn't _

"It seems alright, though the name is false advertising: none of these people look likes freaks. Disappointing," she said, and Sandy laughed. Daisy appeared beside them again, now accompanied by a tall man with light skin and a large hat resting upon his head, dressed darkly in a long coat that made him look large.

"Alaska, Sandy, this is Morimoto, one of the head game designers here at Game Freak," Daisy explained. Alaska smiled back as warmly as possible, silently taking note of how much the man loomed over them all and the richness of his outfit.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Alaska Acevedo," Morimoto said in a deep, booming voice that echoed above the typing of keys around the office. "We may just be game makers, but we have heard plenty about your exploits." Alaska kept her smile on, though was irritated by the fact people she had never met and never thought she would meet seemed to know everything about her.

"Glad to know I'm becoming famous," she replied with only a hint of bitterness, but the game developer did not seem to notice or chose to ignore it.

"I would love a chance to talk to you about your travels so far and everything you have seen, but that would be quite discourteous of me," Morimoto continued. "Why don't I give you a tour of our facilities first before we retire to my office?" Alaska was not in the mood for more walking, but she was in even less of a mindset for casual chatting bordering on in depth interrogation, and gave a simple nod and smiled forcibly, though Morimoto was already signalling for the lifts again.

It was a silent ride to the next floor. Alaska could feel the others judging her as they stood cramped together, Sandy and Daisy wondering if she was alright while Morimoto was trying to work out what she was made of. Alaska wouldn't be surprised if Pichu was thinking dark thoughts about her as well, and gave the newborn a dark stare that was returned with a cute smile that failed to shake her thoughts. _I lost…_

The doors were soon sliding open again, though Alaska could not tell how much time had passed. For a moment, Alaska was knocked out of her thoughts as she stepped out into a space vastly different to the floor below. A neon lit battle field stood before them, taking up half the floor and giving the room a bright purple glow that seeped into every corner. Another desk stood to the left, this one longer and attended by a young man with a blue Mohawk and clothing that screamed hipster-wannabe. Several technicians were tapping away at computers that stood in all four corners of the field, and Alaska noticed rows and rows of PokeBalls behind the desk and along the walls.

"This is our brand new Battle Testing Arena!" Morimoto explained in his booming voice, attracting the attention of everyone in the room, echoing above the faint whisper of rain lashing invisible windows. "We developed it so that we could have Pokemon battle before us and record what they do and how they react through cameras and laser beams designed to follow their every movement and attack. This is so we can make our games more accurate and use much more realistic and better graphics based on our mock battles. Our intention is to develop this system and build a holographic simulation arena game by 2020."

"Oh my god, I would so love to play a simulation game!" Sandy said with a big beam on her face.

"Why would you want to play a simulation game? You already have Pokemon," Alaska pointed out, causing Sandy to pause for a moment before blushing. Daisy shot Alaska a look, but she ignored it and stepped forwards, examining the field that shone before her. Memories of the gym battle came rushing back to Alaska, a blur of green and destruction, watching her Pokemon falling one after the other. _I lost, I lost. _This new field was so vastly different from Celadon… but were her Pokemon up to the task? Was Alaska up to it? _I lost, I lost, I lost, I lost, I lost…_It was all happening so quickly…

"Do you wish to look more around this floor and our technology, or shall I show you some of our game software?" Morimoto said from behind, snapping Alaska back into reality. "There are so many other floors for us to look across, and this storm you are hiding from will likely last a while."

"We're staying here," Alaska called out, walking slowly towards the field, the blinding purple light drilling into her eyes. "We are having a battle… I don't care who with, but I am battling someone." Silence was her only answer, but Alaska didn't care as she had the voice in her head to drill her on; _I lost, I lost, I lost_. The game programmers tapping away at their computers looked up at her, but Alaska only briefly glanced at them before staring back at the field… _I lost, I lost…_

"Alaska, this is crazy!" Daisy cried. "You haven't healed your Pokemon, and if you forced them into battle now it could cause serious damage to them! Be responsible for once and don't go running blindly into a battle." Alaska paused and turned around, Daisy's words feeling like a punch to the stomach, and she was pleased to see her backing away at her furious look.

"I will heal them before I battle, of course!" Alaska hissed, and she threw her four PokeBalls towards the counter, forcing the hipster to catch them. She had presumed it would be like a Pokemon Center nurse's station like the one her mother worked at, and Alaska was glad not to make herself look like a fool as the man slotted the balls into a machine.

"If you are going to have a battle, you will need to have an opponent," Morimoto said, his eyes twinkling with each word he spoke. "If neither of your beautiful friends will take this role, I will gladly do it myself."

"No thanks," Alaska hissed back, wiping the smile of the designer's face. "You want to test my strength and my skills so you can put me into a game, or report it back to Oak or Bill, don't you?" She glowered at him and waited for a response, but Morimoto simply gave her a brief smile that did not reach his eyes and did not answer. "I thought so. I know enough of what it feels like to be controlled like some avatar in a game, so I don't think you can pull that one on me! Sandy, I guess that leaves you and me to fight this out," Alaska said, and put all the warmth and caring that remained in her body into a smile for her oldest friend in the room. Sandy, however, looked awkward, her attention going between Alaska, Daisy and Morimoto, her eyes wide and worrisome, and Alaska felt her heart sink even further. _I lost, I lost_

"Alaska, I would love to battle you, but…," Sandy said, before pausing and glancing down at Pichu snoozing once more in her arms. "Is there a chance Daisy may be right? You did just suffer a really bad loss Alaska, and I did say to you beforehand that it would be best to wait and plan and form a proper battle strategy. Why do you want to battle again so soon, when you and your Pokemon are not at top form?" _You lost, you lost, you lost, you loser._

"I want to prove that I can win!" Alaska shouted back, her voice going higher and louder than she had intended, though she did not stop. "I know I am not going to be able to continue my journey now. You can try and deny it Daisy, but losing against a gym leader is all those Athlews will need to keep me at their oversized doll house. I won't be able to change their minds, but I need to know that I can still battle and that I am still a good trainer, otherwise it would all just eat me away inside." _I lost, I lost, don't you all know that I lost? _Daisy and Morimoto exchanged looks, and Alaska could only wonder what they must be thinking about her right now. She looked at Sandy, wishing, hoping her friend would see how much she needed this. Sandy looked at Alaska, her face uncertain and awkward for a moment, but a smile quickly spread across her face.

"Okay then. I can't guarantee you will win, but I will battle you Alaska: a two on two double battle," she said with a joking smile. Alaska beamed, and for the first time since her gym battle she began to feel calm and collected. The next minutes passed in a rushed, excited blur of burning neon glow and moving around, but Alaska collected her healed Pokemon and moved towards the opposite end of the field. Daisy seated herself begrudgingly in stands that extended out from the wall, while Morimoto stood firmly in the middle, seemingly going to referee. Alaska could barely think straight, her mind rushing with a thousand thoughts at once. The same two words continued to chant away at the back of her head, but Alaska looked across at Sandy, thinking about what Pokemon she had and would use, how she would be able to defeat them, what strategies her own Pokemon could use. _You'll lose, you'll lose_, the same voice chanted in her mind, and Alaska had to shake it out and concentrate on the battle at hand.

"This will be a two on two double battle," Morimoto explained from the sidelines. "The battle shall end when both Pokemon on one team are unable to battle. Do the trainers accept these rules, and understand that by playing on this field, their Pokemon will be monitored and haven their movements recorded for our systems?"

"Agreed!" Alaska shouted, grabbing two PokeBalls from her pocket. Sandy gave a less enthusiastic nod, and Morimoto glanced at the men behind the computers. They each pressed a few buttons and tapped a few keys, and they gave thumbs-up as purple lights began to glow on each of their stands.

"If everyone is agreed, then let the battle begin!"

"Butterfree, Bellsprout, come out and fight!" Sandy cried, throwing her PokeBalls forwards. Alaska had not noticed Sandy had passed Pichu across to Daisy, and for a moment she wondered why she had missed this detail and what else she may have forgotten. By the time the thought had passed, Butterfree and Bellsprout had formed on the glowing field, looking surprised by the arena they had been sent onto. Everyone was looking at Alaska now, and she realised her Pokemon should be on the field as well.

"Paige, Darwin, I choose you!" She shouted, throwing the two PokeBalls forwards. Daisy and Sandy looked stunned by her decision, but Alaska knew Darwin was the right Pokemon to use. The image of him flying towards Meganium, glass in hand, was a hard one to shake, and Alaska had to reassure herself that he was a safe Pokemon to keep on her team and not a danger to them all.

Glowing red light overcame the purple for a moment, and than Paige and Darwin were there, looking confused as well for a moment before settling into battle mode. _Perfect, _Alaska thought, _my two oldest Pokemon and my two best battlers. They are what I need to win this… I lost, I lost, I lost…_

"PoisonPowder on Darwin and Sleep Powder on Paige!" Sandy called.

"Defensive and status moves, I should have known!" Alaska shouted with a smile. "Paige, use Quick Attack on Bellsprout, and Darwin use ThunderPunch on Butterfree!" Paige shot forwards as soon as her command was given, a glowing silhouette above the blazing neon field, and she slammed into Bellsprout before the Grass type knew what had happened. Butterfree looked briefly at her team mate before going for Darwin, her wings turning purple.

"APE!" Darwin screeched, and he jumped forwards, punching Butterfree in the abdomen with a glowing yellow fist. Butterfree cried weakly out as she was brought crashing to the ground, and for a moment Alaska thought she was already knocked out, but the Butterfly Pokemon floated back up as soon as Darwin backed away.

"Excellent!" Alaska cried. "Darwin, you use Seismic Toss on Bellsprout, and Paige go for Butterfree with another Quick Attack!"

"Psybeam and Vine Whip both on Darwin," Sandy said. Alaska looked across at her friend and saw Sandy looked nervous and worried, and she wondered what was causing this. However, Paige moved in front of Sandy, blocking her out from view. Alaska's eyes followed as her Pidgeotto soared across the field towards Butterfree, hitting her with enough force to send her flying as well.

"Good job!" Alaska cried, beaming with joy, glad to see the battle was going well. Paige smiled back at her, but than her eyes bulged and her beak dropped. A yellow glow appeared on the field, and Alaska watched in confusion as Darwin turned towards Butterfree, his fist glowing with another ThunderPunch. "No Darwin, Seismic Toss on Bellsprout!" Alaska shouted, but Darwin merely shot her a look before running forwards. "DARWIN, STOP!"

"PIDGE!" Paige shouted, and she quickly moved forwards, diving in front of Butterfree as Darwin jumped. The ThunderPunch struck her in the stomach, the electricity soaring through Paige and making her tail feathers stand on end.

"What is the meaning of this Alaska?" Morimoto said angrily. "Why is your Pokemon disobeying orders and attacking your own team mates!"

_I wish I could answer that truthfully, _Alaska thought. "He is having an off day I think," she lied in reply. "Darwin, use Seismic Toss on Bellsprout, _now_!"

"APE APE APE!" Darwin screeched back, and he jumped up again, his fists glowing. Paige was still in the way, but when the fist connected this time, the Pidgeotto was forced back against Butterfree, and both Pokemon slammed against the stands.

"DARWIN, STOP THIS!" Alaska screamed, watching as bits of wood broke off. She knew she should withdraw him, but she had to win as well… her mind was spinning, Alaska could not think which was more important… _I lost, I lost, I lost_

"Alaska, withdraw him now, end this before it gets worse!" Daisy screamed from the stands. Alaska tried to follow what was going on, but all four Pokemon appeared to be yelling, Darwin the loudest of them all, and the purple glow from the battlefield was distracting, the light blinding her mind… _I lost, I lost…_

Alaska suddenly found herself on the ground, the lilac glow surrounding her, swallowing her body whole. Someone was yelling, and unfamiliar faces were looming over her, but Alaska wanted them to go away, she had to continue her battle… _I lost, I lost, why did I lose? _Two simultaneously angry noises sounded behind her, and Alaska turned around in time to see a violent purple tornado spinning across the field, looking as though it had emerged from the neon lights, and Darwin was jumping towards it.

"DARWIN, STOP!" Alaska screamed, though she was unsure why. The Twister briefly glowed yellow, and then the whole thing exploded. A powerful blast of wind sent Alaska, Morimoto and one of the computer monitors flying backwards. Alaska crashed into one of the programmers, bouncing off him and falling face first onto the floor below. There was a scream and a screech, and a loud smashing sound that made Sandy scream. Alaska tasted blood in her mouth and her nose felt as though it had snapped, but she looked up anyway, her brain bouncing against the sides of her head.

A large hole remained where parts of a wall had once been. Rain and wind was coming up, whipping up papers and loose PokeBalls that had fallen from the shelves. The hipster attendant rushed forwards to gather things up, and it was then that Alaska realised the neon glow was gone, and she saw a large crack down the middle of the field. For a blurred, confusing second, Alaska had no idea what was going on, but than she realised four figures were missing from the battlefield, and Alaska realised, with what felt like a stab to the chest, what had caused the hole in the window…

_I lose, I lose, I always lose…_

**This chapter may have seemed a bit rushed and disjointed, but note that was my intention, and hopefully you will be able to see why ;) The fiftieth chapter is up next, and it will involve something I have not done yet in my Pokemon writing, so look out for a shocking twist in a chapter that will shape the rest of the series**


	69. Chapter 50: Change

******Here we go, the fiftieth chapter! Though it is not fiftieth overall including the blogs and interludes, it is still a milestone, particularly as this chapter and the two that follow will dramatically shape Alaska and the rest of her journey. I hope you enjoy, and know that there will hopefully be more to come in the future!**

**Chapter Fifty: Change**

"Alaska, WAIT!" Sandy screamed out. Alaska normally would have paused, but her mind was focussed elsewhere, hundreds of thoughts and images flashing before her eyes. _I can't stop, Sandy… I nearly lost you, I can't lose them either…_

Screams and shouts came from across the floor, but Alaska could not tell who the voices belonged to or where they were coming from. She smashed her fist into the buttons for the lift, briefly remembering lying on the floor but forgetting how she had gotten here, but none of that mattered. As a light flashed to show the elevator was coming, Alaska felt a tug of wind, the bite of bitter cold seeping into the building, heard the sound of thunder, rain and wind blurring in amongst the voices, saw the occasional hot white flash that burnt like the neon glow of the battlefield she had destroyed.

_The wind, maybe the wind could have saved them, _Alaska thought as the lift dinged. _No, that's stupid… they fell, all of them fell, and it's all my fault again…_

"Alaska, wait for us!" Someone, possibly Daisy, yelled, but Alaska could not bare to share a lift with someone else; their judging eyes and words would be too much to handle, the tension would be suffocating, the pain even more excruciating than it already was. Alaska ran into the lift and slammed the button to shut the doors before pressing for the ground floor. She glimpsed briefly unfamiliar faces running towards her, the room dark except for the one jagged, gaping hole on the opposite side that was letting everything come in, and had them go out…

The doors slid shut, the lift lurched down, and Alaska was alone.

She found herself sitting on the cold floor, the strength to stand fading away. Alaska clutched her knees close to her body to try and stop herself from shaking, but her body quivered uncontrollably, and her eyes began to feel wet, the entire world blurring.

_How did this… how did any of this happen? _Alaska asked herself as darkness settled throughout her body. _This was meant to be a simple journey, a chance for freedom and to experience life, to let Paige spread her wings and for me to fly as well… Well, that's another lie right there… I wanted to prove I was better than Chloe, I wanted to prove Paige and I could be champions without using a Starter… and look we're my jealousy has gotten me now…_

Alaska thought back to the prophecies that had haunted her throughout this quest, the ones that had tried to shape her and that Alaska had to tried to let in. Latios' words from this morning came back to her as clear as day; '_before you have left this city, you will lose another… you face your greatest challenge yet._' _The challenge was Alexis, it had to be… but who am I going to lose? I can't let any of them die… I nearly lost Sandy, I nearly killed Trevor, people all around me keep dying and every city I go to gets blown up… what is the point of all of this? Why do I survive but everyone and everything around me keeps falling?_

The lift came to a sudden stop, and Alaska forced herself to her feet again as the doors slid open. She stumbled out into the reception, the water feature being deafened by the raging storm outside. _I probably caused that as well, _Alaska thought darkly as she moved out, eyeing the sliding doors she had entered through, _everything's my fault, isn't it?_

"Excuse me, but do you know what is going on?" The receptionist called out. "There are alarms going off throughout the building, there is some glitch occurring with the battle system, and I just heard something fall outside."

_No… _Alaska had hoped they might be able to save themselves somehow… but if they had fallen… _I lost, I lost, I lost… _She ran across the reception, her footsteps echoing off the walls but barely sounding over the rain. There was a _ping_ as another lift arrived, and someone shouted out to her a moment later, but Alaska did not look back, she simply ran. She had to find her answers.

The doors slid open at her approach, and the weather came crashing in.

Alaska was forced to stop and reassess her plan. It seemed like a million gallons of rain was falling from the sky, and it seemed to be drawn to her, soaking her within seconds and making her shiver worse than ever. The wind threatened to blow her backwards, the loud roaring and howling deafening and only making Alaska's fears grow.

"Oh god, where are they?" Alaska muttered to herself, and she forced herself to move further out into the storm. She could already feel her shirt clinging to her skin, her damp hair being blown all over the place. It was a terrible feeling that got down beneath your skin, but Alaska could not stop now. There was no way she would abandon them like this, not after everything, she couldn't leave Paige or Butterfree or Bellsprout… or Darwin…

"PAIGE!" Alaska screamed, silencing the voices and thoughts in her head. "PAIGE, WHERE ARE YOU! BELLSPROUT, BUTTERFREE, DARWIN YOU BASTARD, WHERE ARE YOU!" She looked around to see if anyone was coming out, but the storm had made the world dark and grey, drenching all the colour in a blast of freezing water and hiding everything in shadow. The wind was deafening, silencing everything else on the street, and every sane person seemed to be hiding in the local shops, murky yellow light shining up and down the street. Alaska wouldn't be surprised if her words had been tossed asides, and her Pokemon wouldn't be able to hear her anyway.

"PAIGE! BUTTERFREE! SOMEONE ANSWER ME!"

"Alaska!" A voice shouted from behind, and Alaska turned, for a moment thinking it would be Paige, but quickly remembered the fact her Pokemon can't talk. Sandy was running towards her, her dress and hair hanging limp from the rain, Morimoto and Daisy lingering in the doorway. "Oh my god Alaska, you had me so worried! Something is wrong with you, you need to sit down and take a breath!"

"I think something is wrong with _you_!" Alaska replied, her voice cracking between a laugh and annoyance. _Of course something is wrong with me, something has been wrong for weeks! _"I am not sitting down, I have to find Paige and Darwin and _your _Pokemon as well! Help me look!"

"There are easier ways than running around in the freezing rain!" Sandy shouted, looking sad and desperate as she did too much lately. "You can call Pokemon using PokeBalls, remember?" She held her two in her hands, empty and ajar, and Alaska realised she should have known this… it seemed so obvious now that she thought of it. "Remember you said you would trust me and start treating me like a proper friend, back in the Diglett Cave? Well, you need to remember that now! The Pokemon are alright, trust me," Sandy was staring pleadingly at her, trying hard not to scream at Alaska to see sense. Alaska paused, staring back into the eyes of the friend who had been through so much with her already, yet they never got time to actually be friends, too busy trying to stay alive.

"Fine, I'll trust you this time," Alaska said, forcing a smile, and Sandy instantly looked more relaxed. They turned back towards the Game Freak building and the shelter offered, though Alaska kept turning and looking around, trying to find any sign of the Pokemon. Her shoe crunched over shattered glass, and Alaska looked up at the hole above. _That is a long fall… Paige and Butterfree have wings, but this weather… and what about Darwin and Bellsprout? _

"Are you sure they are going to come?" Alaska asked, looking around for signs of blood but only seeing more glass distributed between puddles.

"Yes Alaska, of course they are!" Sandy said with a strained smile. "Hang on a second… can you hear that?" Alaska froze, excited and scared at the same time. For a moment, she could only hear the rain and wind that surrounded them, and thought Sandy was trying to trick her. But than a soft cry came out through the veil of rain, and Alaska spun around, the thoughts in her head pausing for just a moment as she saw Paige and Butterfree float out from an alleyway behind them, Bellsprout hanging between them with her vines.

"PAIGE!" Alaska screamed, and she ran forwards, stumbling through puddles that flooded her shoes. Paige looked as wet as Alaska felt, but the Bird Pokemon beamed when she saw Alaska, and Butterfree and Bellsprout's faces lit up as well when they saw Sandy. The two broke free to move to their own trainer, letting Alaska leap up and pull Paige down into a hug, their two wet bodies colliding into the ground.

"Oh Paige, I thought I had lost you!" Alaska said, her voice cracking as she rolled on the street, holding Paige tightly and being hugged back with giant, wet wings. "Don't ever scare me like that again, you hear me! I thought I had lost you!"

"Pidge Pidgey Pidgey Ooottoo!" Paige replied, and Alaska smiled back and laughed. She watched as Sandy pulled her Pokemon into a hug as well, and saw Daisy and Morimoto smiling from the sliding doors. Her fears had been for nothing, her dark thoughts simply poison in her mind; everyone was safe, and Alaska thought for one fleeting moment that she had nothing to worry about… _I won, I won!_

"Prime… Prime Ape Ape!" An angry grunt sounded from the same alleyway, and Alaska felt the joy evaporate as quickly as she had been soaked. The embrace between her and Paige loosened, and the two turned towards the alleyway that had been made as dark as midnight by the sudden storm. Darwin came stumbling out, an angry sneer across his face, the look almost comical on his wet body. Alaska noted though that his hands were bunched up in fists, and there was a malicious glare in his eyes as he looked past his trainer. Alaska looked around and saw Sandy pulling Butterfree and Bellsprout in tighter, backing slowly away with fear on her own face.

_Wait a second… _Alaska thought as she pushed herself back to her feet, making sure she was in the way of Darwin and Sandy, _how did all of this start? I fell over, and when I looked up, there was a Twister, than the explosion… _

"Darwin is out of control Alaska, you have to stop him!" Daisy yelled from behind, and Alaska looked back briefly to see she had run forwards, PokeBalls in her hands in case of emergency. "He has been disobeying your orders all day! He nearly killed Alexis' Meganium, and possibly would have killed Butterfree if Paige hadn't gotten in the way, and that ended just as badly!"

"What did he do to her Twister?" Alaska asked, trying to remain calm, but anger was rising up inside her again, and her head felt like it would explode.

"I believe the power of ThunderPunch combined with Twister to strengthen it before making the shock wave, and the spinning force sucked Butterfree and Bellsprout inside," Morimoto explained, joining them with an oversized umbrella that struggled in the wind. "The four were thrown out when the Twister exploded, and clearly shattered the window. It is a miracle they survived, though I believe Pidgeotto and Butterfree's wings would have had something to do with it."

"So… it is all Darwin's fault?" Alaska asked, turning back towards her Pokemon. The Primeape stood there with his angry, ugly glare, ignoring the fact they were talking about him and looking past Alaska towards Sandy. _He doesn't care about anything except winning, _Alaska thought. _He will destroy anything if it allowed him to win… Damian's Charmander, Alexis' Meganium, Sandy's Butterfree, and he was so willing to destroy Surge's Mine Field… though that was my suggestion… am I the problem here? _Alaska's head was spinning, hundreds of thoughts overloading her system. It felt like something was crushing her throat and chest, and Alaska wanted to find somewhere to sleep, to forget about all of this…

"Ape Ape Prime!" Darwin snarled, and he began to stomp forwards, his powerful legs crushing the already broken glass beneath them, his eyes focussed entirely on Sandy.

"No Darwin, stop!" Alaska yelled, stepping towards him, but Darwin simply moved asides to avoid her. "Listen to me, I am your trainer! You are not allowed to hurt any of them!" She stepped to the right this time, but still Darwin moved around her. "STOP! LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!" Alaska grabbed onto his arm as he came past, holding it as tightly as she could. Darwin let out a screech like he had just been scalded and turned around, swinging his free fist.

Alaska felt pain rushing through her head, and the next thing she knew she was staring up at the clouds above, rain landing on her eyes, Paige hovering above her looking startled. She groaned, tasting blood in her mouth and feeling something streaking down her face. She tried to move, but it only made her head spin. Sandy appeared above her, shouting behind for help, but Alaska could barely hear her. She could only hear the voices in her head screaming at her: _You lost, you lost, you lost. _After a few moments, Alaska forced herself to sit up, the simple movement causing something to rise up in her swollen throat, and she spat a mixture of blood and bile onto the footpath, her stomach suddenly hurting as much as her brain was.

"Darwin…," she whispered, the word poison on her lips. Paige fluttered down, squawking, possibly trying to stop her, but Alaska gave her a pat and stared forward. Darwin was frozen to the spot, his fists still bunched up. His stance and mouth showed his anger, but his eyes were wide and fearful, a look Alaska had come to recognize well during this journey. There was a chance the Primeape felt pity, but Alaska was not having any of it... not now, not after everything.

"Get out of my sight," she hissed, slurring the words slightly from the blood in her mouth and nose, but they came out all the same. Darwin remained standing, though his stance weakened. "Didn't you hear me? This is the last order I am ever going to give you! You have nearly killed Pokemon, you've ruined EVERYTHING! Get out of my sight right now, or I will set Paige, Frances and Nadia on you, and you will not enjoy it. Leave… NOW!" Darwin looked stunned, remaining perfectly still, silence falling across the street except for the storm, except for Alaska, who had the voices and thoughts in her head screaming at her in protest. She didn't want to let Darwin go, but there was no way she could keep him. Her entire body was shaking now, her head bleeding and in pain, the rest of her body seeming to shut down, the rain making her freeze, and all Alaska wanted to do was crawl up and sleep, the tears starting to build up. "GO, GO, GO! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT NOW! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST GO!"

Alaska couldn't have said when Darwin finally moved. Time began to pass in a blur as she lay on the abandoned, stormy street, sobbing uncontrollably. Sandy wrapped her arms around her, crying in her own way, but nothing would console Alaska. She had not cried for years, but nothing was holding her back now. Tears, rain and blood streamed down her battered face. Alaska felt weak, she felt helpless, and when she looked up and saw Darwin had gone, she only broke down further.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's going to be alright Alaska, you'll see," Sandy whispered to her in a cracked voice. "Everything is going to be fine!" Alaska wiped the blood from her nose and spat the rest from her mouth, trying to control the tears but failing, and wished one of her Pokemon knew Sunny Day so they could end this relentless weather. But Alaska knew that Sandy was wrong, and she forced her friend's arms away from her, wobbling back to her feet as a bleeding, crying mess.

"Nothing is ever going to be fine," Alaska hissed, shaking uncontrollably as she got back to her feet, the taste of vomit rising in her throat. "I have ruined everything… this journey, my Pokemon, you… myself… I can't turn back now… I'm stuck on this path, aren't I?"

"What? No! Of course not! You can always turn back Alaska, you can fix everything," Sandy said, smiling in her eternal optimism, but Alaska shook her head. "If you can't turn back, than what else can you do?"

"Run," Alaska replied, and she turned away. Her feet were moving before anyone else had realised, her mind being the last one to register it, and Alaska had passed two buildings before anyone called out for her.

"PIDGE!" Paige screamed, and Alaska heard her fly after, but she still didn't stop. She and Paige could simply run and fly away together, leave this journey in the past and find something new to do. They reached the end of the street and Alaska turned right, nearly running into a car and earning a sharp honk of the horn, but she simply kept running. She wanted to throw up, she felt weak, the tears and rain were making everything into a strange wet haze, but still Alaska kept running with Paige by her side.

_If I run fast enough, I can leave this all behind, _Alaska thought. _This war, all these puzzles, the people trying to control me… they can stay and let the world burn around them, and Paige and I can keep on running… there's no turning back… I lost, I lost, I really, truly lost…_

**The follow up chapter will be coming soon! I am wondering if any of you saw that coming - let me know, I hope I am not too predictable :P As part of the fiftieth chapter, I will try and update the earlier chapters so they are properly spaced over the next few weeks and make them more readable :) **


	70. Chapter 51: The Mind that Never Sleeps

**A bit of a delay with this one, but I am sure it will be worth it. A note before reading, I went back and edited the Breakfast at Jericho's chapter to include a line about Eevee in order for a certain aspect I forgot about to make sense in this chapter :)**

**Chapter Fifty One: The Mind That Never Sleeps**

The rain continued to pour down, and Alaska continued to run.

Rivers of storm water raged through the drainpipes of Celadon City, rubbish and leaves being swept up and sent racing through these murky streams. The river that cut through the city roared as well as the sudden storm refused to stop, the levels of rain likely to make the usually crystal blue ribbon of beauty flood the surrounding the streets. Trees stood valiantly against the wind, but their leaves were sent scattered like lost soldiers, while aged traffic lights and street poles were being pushed to their limits, rims of rust struggling to hold them up. People were sheltered in their homes and in stores, waiting out the raging weather that was so unusual for the Rainbow City, Celadonians waiting patiently for things to return to normal.

And still, Alaska ran.

Her feet splashed through puddles, letting so much water in that they were starting to weigh her down. Alaska was chilled to the bone, parts of her skin turning unfavourable shades of blue and purple, her clothes stuck to her skin, more water than fabric now. It was uncomfortable to run in drenched jeans, but Alaska ignored the discomfort, the pain in her mouth, nose, head and heart overpowering.

_I lost… I never thought I would, but I've lost… I lost, I lost, I fucking, fucking lost! _

Alaska wasn't sure if she was crying anymore, but she could still taste blood in her mouth and feel it within her nose. She could injure herself worse so if she kept running in her condition, but Alaska had to put distance between herself and what had just happened. She had to distance herself from everything. The weight of all the destruction that had followed her through Kanto, the guilt of all the harm she had caused to strangers and friends, the pressure being put on her by all these different groups and all their agendas… Alaska needed a chance to breathe, to think, to cope with all of it, but no one was considering giving her the courtesy.

"Pidge Pidge Otto Pidgey!" Paige cried as she drew level with Alaska, who turned down another street, not even paying attention to the skyscrapers that dwarfed her or the cars that were basically swimming through the streets. _Come on Paige, give me some time to think! _Alaska thought. _I just released Darwin… I think… I could always call him back, but do I want to call him back? I should have trained him, I never focussed on my Pokemon enough! Wait, I did, didn't I? I spent two weeks training while Sandy was in hospital, doesn't that count? _

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Alaska screamed, the only way she could silence the thoughts in her head. Paige looked startled, and Alaska instantly felt more guilt: the Pidgeotto didn't deserve this. She had been with Alaska through everything she had ever been through, and was sticking with her even though the rain had soaked her as well. "Oh Paige, I wish you could carry me in your claws or hold me on your back. Than we would be able to fly away from all of this and start a new life. I could become… oh, I don't know, Montana Magno! You can pretend to be a boy. I shall call you Otto!" Paige laughed, and Alaska managed a smile as well, though she knew that there was no way she could really leave this. _I want to keep fighting, even though they will not let me. I want to get those next five badges, I want to battle Red, I want to be a Champion! But if I keep this up, how deeper will I get in Gideon's war? Who else will I lose before it ends? _

Alaska could feel tears coming once more, as well as pain throughout her entire body. She was afraid that if she stopped her legs might give way, her head may take it as a sign to stop and she would never get any answers. But as Alaska turned a corner, wishing she could jump in a pit of fire, the only thing that would warm her up after this, she saw a familiar house in the distance.

_Must I? _Alaska thought, even though her feet had decided to go there anyway. _I do need shelter, but I would rather go jump in an ice bath than go there… though, let's be fair, it will be like going into an ice bath stepping through there… _

But the storm showed no signs of stopping, and Alaska knew she would be welcome there if Evelyn had not relayed news of her actions yet, so she pounded towards the Athlew Mansion, the giant mound of white glimmering in the rain, its beauty not yet tarnished by the storm, instead glowing against a charcoal backdrop.

The guard at the gates recognized her and let her through, though seemed suspicious of her arriving alone. Alaska was not fussed by that and power walked her way up the tarmac driveway stained an even richer black by the rain. She looked around at the beauty she had only seen through a tinted car window this morning; tall trees with lush green leaves, a wide field of perfectly mown grass, priceless, vintage cars parked together by a red bricked garage, gazebos, fountains, statues, all spread out across this expansive property. The house itself was a three storey white giant, the building looking bigger than all the homes on Alaska's street in Viridian put together. It was big and beautiful, looking even more radiant the closer Alaska and Paige got to it.

_Will I ever be able to live like this? _Alaska asked herself as she got closer. She had always dreamed of living in a giant house, surrounded by wealth and wonderful Pokemon, being able to live the life she had never been able to experience. _I still want that, some day… but how am I going to get there? I will probably not even survive until the end of next week at the rate I'm going. I've nearly been killed more times than I can even count, Sandy came a millimetre from death, Trevor is probably dead or drying somewhere… and I somehow keep on going. I should have been the one that got shot, not Sandy, she never asked for any of this. I was the one that started everything. If only I had just kept my nose out of it at the museum, and then at Mt Moon… this is all my fault… none of this could have ever happened if I hadn't gone on this stupid journey…_

"Pidgey!" Paige cried, but Alaska had to ignore her as she took off once again, the tears flowing once more, this time at a more recognizable rate. The guilt came washing over her as if the wind was blowing it back, and Alaska's mind began racing again, screaming a million different thoughts at her at once: _ you face your greatest challenge yet… you must find balance before you can win…_ _I hope you are prepared for the consequences for your actions today… But Alaska, I think you are just as stupid as you think I am…_

The front doors opened a minute after Alaska began banging on them, but she didn't notice when they moved, punching and kicking in mid air, tears and blood and rain washing across her face. The maid gasped in shock before she realised, and Alaska ran in, the sound of wings showing Paige following directly behind her.

"Miss Acevedo, please remain there, we must fetch you a towel immediately!" One of the butlers from breakfast said in a crisp voice. Alaska looked down to see a puddle had already formed around her, and she could feel warmth of the house seeping through her damp, ruined clothing, but a chill still went down her spine, her mind continuing to race.

"Miss, stay still!" The maid shouted as Alaska took off, but she went ignored like everyone else as Alaska raced for the staircase. She didn't even know where she was going, but she had to put some distance between herself and those around her. Paige flew after her as Alaska raced up one staircase and rounded for the next, passing more servants who were stunned at the presence of an unfamiliar, dripping teenage girl running throughout the pristine white house. Alaska took little of the house's design in as she ran, leaving sodden and dirty footprints everywhere, Paige struggling to keep up. They passed the group of Eevee that had been playing in the garden earlier that day, all of them looking as stunned as the servants. Alaska remembered Sandy mentioning something in the limousine about how cute they were, but that only made her think of Sandy again, and the tears kept flowing.

She reached the top level and came to a stop, realised there was no where else to run, only places to hide. Alaska thought of going into a bedroom or the bathroom, but they would be easily able to find her, and what would she do then? Only now did she think of the fact she was inside the house of Jericho and Evelyn Athlew, two people that wanted to stop her from ever fighting again. _Idiot, idiot, IDIOT! I lost, I lost, I lost again! _

"Pidge Ottoooo!" Paige cried, and Alaska turned, her vision blurred from her tears and the rain, but saw the Bird Pokemon pointing with her right wing towards a set of glass double doors at the end of the hallway, showing the grey world they had just left behind.

"Perfect," Alaska said through a sob, and she rushed forwards. The door zoomed up to her, and Alaska flung it open. The cold instantly raced back to her, but the doors were covered by a large shelter that extended for several metres, protecting them from the storm. Alaska looked around and saw she had entered a rooftop vegetable garden, the produce contained within large wooden boxes dotted around, with a wooden table and chairs seated in the middle and a greenhouse on the far side. The sound of rain hammering against the panes echoed across the empty roof, and Alaska suddenly felt alone, cut off, secluded. It was a chilling feeling, though now that Alaska had stopped moving, all the physical pains were hitting her at once: coldness, aching muscles through the lower half of her body, sickness in her stomach, shooting pain in her nose, the metallic taste of blood on her lips, the constant rattling in her head…

"I am not sure I can take this anymore," Alaska whispered to Paige, disgusted at the whimper in her voice but felt too helpless to shake it. She felt sick and angry about everything that had happened and that she had done and she wanted it all to end.

"Pidge Pidgey Ot Ot Pidge Otto!" Paige said, wrapping her dripping wings around Alaska. Alaska smiled softly at this and rearranged her arms to hug her first Pokemon back, fresh but silent tears falling from her eyes as she slid down against the cold stone walls. _I did this all for you, didn't I? _She thought to herself. _I wanted to prove that you and I could take on the world together, that you didn't need a Starter to be winners. If it wasn't for Indigo Dreams and that dumb blonde tart, would we even be here? We may have made it on a journey eventually, but would we have captured Frances or Nadia, or met Sandy. If I had waited, would my parents be in a better place? Would my father have found a job? Would Edward and Emily have finished school, or would Freddie have started? Everything would have been different if this show had not started… I never would have met Darwin…_

"I have to tell them," Alaska whispered aloud, and before Paige even heard her properly, two Great Balls were rolling across the concrete tiles. The blue light was so bright that Alaska had to shut her eyes to avoid blinding herself in the storm-caused darkness, but when she opened them again, Frances and Nadia awaited her, Paige fluttering down to greet them. They stood in the order they had been captured, and Alaska felt teary again as she looked across them all: Paige, so proud and loyal, Frances, who was conquering her fears and letting her strength shine through, and Nadia, already so fierce and strong. They all looked at her, and Alaska watched them, staring between Paige and Frances, knowing Darwin should be there… but there was no turning back from that…

"I let Darwin go," she whispered, trying to control herself for her Pokemon. "He… he hit me today, only a few hours after he tried to kill Alexis' Meganium and shortly after Darwin tried to hurt Sandy's Butterfree." Frances looked shocked, clutching her claws to her mouth, while Nadia tried to look unfazed, but her eyes gave it away. "I-I-I-I didn't w-want to, but… Paige, you saw what happened better than I did… there was no way I could keep him… I can't control him, he doesn't listen to me… I can't control anything these days!" The tears fell again, and Alaska screeched in rage, banging her fists on the ground. She had been reduced to a giant, blubbery mess, and Alaska hated herself for it, but she couldn't even control her own body and let the tears fall. "I should never have put any of you in this situation! I'm sorry… this is all my fault!"

"Para Para Sect Para!" Frances said, and she scuttled forwards, wrapping her claws around Alaska's left leg and giving it a comforting squeeze. Paige nodded in approval and hopped over, hugging Alaska around the waist. Nadia took the right leg, nuzzling her head against the cold, damp jeans, but Alaska could feel the warmth coming through. She laughed through the blood and tears and pulled the three closer.

"At least I have you three," she whispered, and fell silent, sitting there with her arms around her Pokemon, listening to the rain and wondering what she was going to do next.

"You may have them now, but what about in the future?" A voice hissed through the storm, and Alaska seized up. The voice was all too familiar, having heard it echoing inside the Underground Path on her way to this storm struck city, but Alaska looked around and she could find no sign of this shadowed man that had stalked her for this entire journey.

"Where are you? Show yourself!" Alaska screamed, jumping to her feet and spinning around, her Pokemon spreading out to protect her, but the man did not come forwards. Fear settled inside her, Alaska's thought hissing dark ideas into her head: could she trust this man… could she trust anyone? "Fine… then tell me what happened to Trevor?"

"I am not sure what happened to your policing friend," the man replied in his deep, nearly robotic voice. "I am sure he is still alive. I survived, so should he… though I have developed a knack for surviving much worse than that." Alaska stored this information away, hoping it would help her crack who this person was, but her head was beginning to throb again and she clutched it in agony. "Headache? I am not surprised. I saw the way your Primeape hit you… or is this pain from something else? Guilt, perhaps? Or struggling to make sense of this path you've chosen?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Alaska screamed, clutching her head as it throbbed worse than ever. Was this man doing something to her mind? Alaska tried to think, but all she could hear was the sound Darwin had made when he had jumped for Meganium, combined with gunshots, explosions and a silky smooth voice; _the dead will rise before your battle is over_. "What do you want with me?" Alaska asked, struggling to control the tears that she didn't want.

"I told you last time we met that I was going to give you a choice very soon, and now I am here to give it to you," the shadowy figure replied. "As you must have worked out by now, the indecision is destroying you, your Pokemon and those around you. It is time you decided on the path to go on Alaska: you either carry on being made a puppet by these rich fools that care less for your safety and more for claiming your glory, or you can continue with your journey and become an excellent trainer before being forced into something that will likely kill you."

"I don't know what I want to do!" Alaska replied, barely able to control her emotions, swinging somewhere between rage and depression, 'death' now screaming at the back of her thoughts. "I want to continue with my journey, I want to train my team, I want to be the best, but… but I have become too caught up in all of this. Can I really throw this all away? What if Gideon gets too powerful, or whoever keeps sending robots after me reveals themselves, and what if –" but Alaska never finished her sentence, as from out of nowhere a hand appeared, and suddenly she was stumbling to the side, clutching her cheek where it had been slapped, pain spreading through her face and setting her nose bleeding again.

"NIDORAN RAN RAN!" Nadia hissed, and fired Poison Stings into the darkness, but suddenly they were alone again. Alaska blinked stars out of her vision and winced at the pain, which was stronger than she had anticipated, and looked angrily for her assailant.

"I do have a knife in my bag!" Alaska hissed. "It may be used for cutting brownies, but it is still a knife, and I will cut you if you do that again!"

"Now you listen to me," the shadowed man said from nowhere, suddenly angry, though likely not from her knife jibe, "we are running out of time. Gideon has Charlotte's spell book now, but he needs a few more items and has to wait for the right moment before he can ensure he has a chance of victory. You have the time you need to continue battling and to continue training, and when you have evolved all your Pokemon or gotten a full time or whatever you need to do to be the best, that should be in time for Gideon to be ready. I don't want you to fight him, I know the cost of going against people like him, but Gideon seems to have chosen you as a target, and he will make sure you are there for his big finale whether you want to or not, so it is better that you ready yourself rather than go against him unprepared." Alaska paused at this, letting his words rush over him, deafening the manic thoughts in her mind. Could she really pull that off… could she train and be ready in time for this battle? She looked down at her team and saw they were all listening as well, only Paige looking up at her with fierceness in her eyes.

"The Kanto Elites, as you so lovingly called them on your blog, they won't like this, they want you to defeat him for them," he continued. "Red has sent his Suicune and Zapdos after you to ensure you are kept safe, but they are also watching you're every movement, so be careful of them and what they may relay back to HQ. But it is more important that you get a grip of yourself. I watched you today since your loss… in fact, since your friend was shot, and you have been a mess. Think clearly; don't fret about all this blue lightning and who the robots belong to or anything. You and Sandy need to be a strong, united team if you have any hope of winning this war, and you need her by your side to keep you sane."

_I am in major need of some sanity, _Alaska thought, but her mind was beginning to calm down. The prophecies and screaming and fear were passing through her system, and only the shadowed man's words remained, repeating themselves over and over again, drumming themselves deep into her brain, and Alaska was beginning to feel… dare she say… normal.

"Clean yourself up, train your remaining Pokemon, and make sure you defeat Alexis before the week is up to put Evelyn in her place," the man said. "And, whatever you do, do not let yourself be impaired by meeting the Indigo Dreams cast again. You cause too much trouble when you meet them, and I don't trust anyone involved with that show, especially not Amanda or Buzz."

"Buzz?" Alaska asked, instantly confused, but she shot the question down, knowing it would do her no good to dwell on this. She looked around once again, hoping for a sign of the man, but he was still just as invisible as he had been all this time. "Thank you… thank you for all of this," she said to thin air, her words blown away by the wind, a calm sensation spreading throughout her body. "I needed this… I hope I can stick to what you told me… I don't want to die."

"Trust me, death is not as bad as it seems," the man replied, and for the first time, his voice sounded soft… it sounded human. Alaska turned towards it, and she saw a silhouette standing by the table in the centre of this courtyard. She felt his eyes staring back at her as the wind tugged at his long black cloak, and Alaska shivered as his gaze turned away from her, the man looking across at Celadon. "It would be a pity if Kanto fell… she is so beautiful when she is not being destroyed. Good luck, Alaska Acevedo… we will all be watching you." He began to walk towards the edge, and Alaska felt sad to see him go. Suddenly, a question fell into her mind, one of the nagging thoughts that had been there all day, and she rushed out into the rain once more.

"Wait!" She cried, and the man stopped. Alaska ran up to him, stopping a metre away but close enough to see the leather texture of his jacket and the grim hat that adorned his face. "I would never have met Gideon if I had not followed a shadowed figure to the museum. I always thought it had been Gideon I had followed… but he would not have been so obvious, would he?" Silence fell except for the thundering rain, and Alaska froze as the man turned towards her, his face hidden in shadow, but she could see lips through the darkness, and could see his left hand coming towards her.

"Why do you think I am doing all of this?" He whispered back, mournful and painfully, and his hand touched her face. Alaska shut her eyes at the feeling of cold, wet leather brushing her cheek, a shudder spreading throughout her body. Suddenly, there was a white hot flash that burnt through her eyes, and when Alaska opened them, her saviour was gone, disappearing like a flash of lightning…

"Alaska, are you out here? ALASKA!" Alaska had become lost in staring out at Celadon, the shadowed man's words repeating themselves within her mind, but she turned at the cry of her name and the sound of glass breaking. She saw Sandy, the nervous servant girl from this morning and the trio of Eevee all standing in the doorway, all looking curious and fearful. Alaska broke into a smile at the sight of Sandy, and quickly rushed out of the rain towards her friend, throwing her arms around her and pulling her close. "Don't you ever think of running away again!" Sandy cried tearfully. "I was so worried! Daisy and Morimoto are still out there looking for you; I am going to have to call them… but your so wet, you need dry clothes, immediately!" Sandy broke away and Alaska saw her eyes were glistening. Guilt rose up once again, but Alaska managed to control herself, focussing her mind on what the man had said.

"Don't cry," she said, smiling back at Sandy. "I am safe, and for once, I believe I am going to be pretty sane for a while. Go call them; we can talk in a minute." Sandy nodded, struggling to hold back her tears, and Alaska wondered if there were from joy or the stress she had displayed before. The blonde pushed past the girl, and was followed by the three Eevee. Alaska and her team were left alone with the servant girl, a hush falling once more. Her big green eyes kept flicking between Alaska and the ground, and she was nervously walking back towards the glass doors as if she wanted to get away, and Alaska could tell from the rest of her stance, and how she had acted this morning, it was not because of the rain.

"Why are you scared of me?" Alaska asked suddenly as she wiped more blood away from her upper lip, suddenly realising how dizzy she felt. The girl looked up, her eyes widening even further like a Stantler in headlights but Alaska wanted an answer before she could properly move on . "Did I do something wrong when I was your patient or whatever, is that it?" The girl seemed frozen, only annoying Alaska, but there was nothing to be done. "Fine then, be that way! Come on girls, let's get out of this awful –"

"I heard about the things you've done," the girl said suddenly, talking rapidly. "They – the Athlews, and your friends – they were talking about how you had a part to play in the tunnel collapsing, and with that scientist guy, and destroying the generators and…" but at this, the girl fell silent again, and Alaska saw she was shaking in fear. _Am I really that intimidating? _Alaska thought, feeling sick all over again, and she struggled to dwell feelings of guilt.

"I am sorry that you heard that stuff, but trust me, I am not a bad person," she replied, trying to smile in a kind way. "Ask my Pokemon if you don't believe me! I have just been put into a situation that I can't seem to get out of, but for the time being, I am putting all of that on hold." The girl nodded, still looking frightened, though Alaska hoped her message had gotten through. She signalled for her Pokemon to move again, and the girl stepped aside, holding onto the door handle to let them through.

"What's your name, by the way?" Alaska asked, hoping to make a connection on some level with the girl.

"Oh… it's Amelia," she replied timidly. Alaska smiled at their similar names and went to move on, but a tiny squeak turned her back around. "If I was you," Amelia said, looking down at her shoes, "I would force the scientist into doing things on my rules. Choose the field to fight him on rather than him always choosing it for you, and then maybe things will be less destructive… or more destructive, if you want them to be, but it might mean you will win and no one else will be scared." Alaska was taken aback by the advice, but she nodded and smiled back, letting the words sink in as they set off alarm bells in the back of her head.

"Amelia, Gabriella is calling you, she wants help with preparing for dinner," Sandy said, appearing back with her gaggle of Eevee. Amelia smiled at the two girls before rushing away, and Alaska watched her go, suddenly feeling rather satisfied, a plan forming in her mind. "My god, this weather is just getting worse!" Sandy said, looking through the open door as the wind and rain continued to howl. "I thought this was meant to be a sunny city."

"Don't you worry Sandy, I can bring the sunshine. I know exactly how to make things bright again…" Alaska said, unable to stop the beam crossing her face. Sandy looked confused, but Alaska simply reached across and pulled the door shut, silencing the storm and trapping it outside. Alaska watched the fat drops of rain swirling around in the wind, examining all the chaos being created as some sort of fruit tree struggled to stay upright, and a smile crossed her face. _My storm has passed, _Alaska thought, and she turned away to face Sandy, and together with all the Pokemon, they walked down the hallway, none of them looking back at the madness Alaska had left outside. 

**The series will move on a bit from here. I hope to have less of Alaska worrying about everything and having mental breakdowns and go back towards the humour of the earlier chapters and restrain the drama a bit. There will be still be discussions about these things, but they will probably be more spoken between Alaska, Sandy and possible others, along with more discussions about other things that I have meant to write about for ages. So know that Alaska will be back on track from here on out, starting with her bringing back the sunshine ;) **


	71. Chapter 52: Alaska Got Her Groove Back

**Sorry for another delay, the length of this chapter clashed with exams, other projects and me finally being able to get White 2. I hope to get more up before the end of the year and end on a cliffhanger, but can't make any promises as Galactic is likely to hold me up along with other duties. But hopefully this battle will be enough to satisfy you all ;)**

**Chapter Fifty Two: How Alaska Got Her Groove Back**

"Ooooh, back again are we? I thought the warrior princess had given up on her dream of bitch slapping her way to victory."

"Shut it Clyde, I'm not in the mood."

"Feisty! I like it!" The security system laughed. "What's this I hear of you having a little breakdown? Did it all get a bit too much for the Avacado Girl?"

"Sandy, when I become Champion, remind me to order the death of that one."

"I'll make a note of it." Alaska nodded, a smile on her face, and she gave Clyde a wink before marching into the gym, knowing that when she walked past him on her way out, she would have the Rainbow Badge in her hands, and everyone would know that she means business.

The gym seemed silent as Alaska and Sandy made their way through the flower boxes and pot plants. The giggling gym attendants fell silent as they looked up from their work, their Pokemon becoming stunned, and Alaska smiled and waved at them all as walked by. They followed after her, whispering to each other but being careful to keep away, as if Alaska was going to attack them. It only amused Alaska, and her smile got wider as she approached the field waiting for her at the back of the gym.

The stands had been repaired, and currently the ones to Alaska's right were occupied: Jericho, Evelyn, today wearing a wrinkled purple dress that made her resemble a prune, Daisy and Morimoto sat in the front row, all with varying expressions on their faces. Daisy looked nervous, Jericho seemed almost amused, Evelyn's face was as sour as ever, and Morimoto seemed uninterested, merely here to watch a battle. Alaska was not sure truly why he had come but she knew better than to worry about it. Jericho's Flareon sat curled up besides the stands, something that seemed almost like a threat to Alaska, but she ignored that as well, thinking only of her battle.

"Hello again Alaska," Alexis called from across the grassy field, standing in the same spot she had a week earlier. "I have waited a week for this rematch, so I trust that it is going to be a very intense and exciting battle. I hope that you have been preparing your Pokemon as much as I prepared mine, and that they are ready for the challenge ahead."

"Trust me, we're ready," Alaska replied, a smirk on her face, and she pulled her first Great Ball out of her pocket. Alexis nodded and pulled her own PokeBall out, and Alaska moved into position, taking several deep breathes to calm, control and ready herself for battle.

Over the past week, Alaska had barely slept. She knew sleeping would only draw back the questions she longed to push away, and restless nights would make her reconsider the path she had chosen. Instead, Alaska worked herself and her Pokemon until they were exhausted for as many hours as possible. Paige, Frances and Nadia were put through their paces, running and flying around the Athlew Mansion, fighting against statues, bags of manure, rubbish, anything Alaska could find, battling each other, battling Sandy and Daisy's Pokemon. Alaska exercised with them and sometimes got involved in their direct training, especially when she spent two whole days using facilities at the Pokemon Center. All throughout the training, Alaska chanted the words Amelia had said to her; _Choose the field to fight him on_, though in this case, it was a she. Alaska had a chance to change gym battles forever, and she had worked out a strategy to perfectly combat Alexis'.

_I know this will work… it has to work… it will, I know it will, _Alaska kept telling herself as she taught her Pokemon the moves necessary to win, but making sure they were not being watched by any Athlews or their staff. Her plan hinged on surprise, as she wanted the message behind her moves to sink in when she unveiled them.

And know here she stood, the same spot she had lost in a week early, now with one less Pokemon and a shaken but clearer head. Alaska had only three Pokemon on her, only three chances to defeat Alexis and win. _Paige has been with me the longest, Frances has grown the most, Nadia is bound by loyalty for saving her, they won't let me down, _Alaska told herself, and knew that only she could sabotage this chance for victory, this last effort needed to prove herself to the world.

"Good luck Alaska, we will be cheering for you," Sandy whispered as she left, Pichu clutched in her arms, Butterfree and Bellsprout out and ready to root her on. Alaska smiled at all of them and watched them walk off, and her eyes settled on the Athlew's: both grandson and matriarch stared back at her with smirks and glares, both of them challenging her to test them, daring her to prove herself. Alaska knew they wanted her to fail, even if she was not entirely sure why, but she was willing to disappoint her reluctant hosts.

"Welcome to the rematch between the Celadon Gym Leader Alexis and the challenger Alaska Acevedo," Annabelle the referee called. The gym attendants and their floral themed Pokemon crowded the other stands, all watching her with eagerness and uncertainty. Alaska despised people like that, who longed for excitement but were afraid when it actually reared its head. _Don't worry girls, I am sure you will get the show you are hoping for, _Alaska thought bitterly, but focussed back on Annabelle. "Alaska, how many Pokemon shall you be using?"

"Three," Alaska replied, and she saw a glint in Jericho's eyes from the stands, and longed to throw her PokeBall at him instead. _Whatever you do, don't think of Darwin, _the voice in her head instructed her. Alaska knew that her team lacked his power and skills, even if she could not control them, and it pained her to reflect on this, but Alaska knew she couldn't let it consume her, otherwise emotions she did not want to display in front of these people would come out, emotions she had been struggling with over these past few days as she remembered that terrible moment.

"This will be a three on three match then," Annabelle called. "Trainers, please send out your first Pokemon, and let the match begin!" There was a cheer from the gym attendants, and Alexis smiled at Alaska before throwing her first PokeBall into the air. Alaska watched it spinning, clutching her own in her hand, and listened as Sandy and her Pokemon began to cheer as well, and Daisy and Morimoto applauded the start of the battle.

_This is it, my last chance… I can win this, nothing can stop me now, _Alaska thought, and she threw her PokeBall towards the grass, ready for her journey to begin again.

"Frances, show them what we're made of!"

"Jumpluff, let's do this all again!" The PokeBalls opened, and Alaska smiled at the sight of Jumpluff floating above them, looking much more innocent than she really was, but confirming what Alaska had hoped for. Meanwhile, Frances formed amongst the tall grass, the top of her mushroom visible but the rest hidden in green.

"Changing your strategy, I see," Alexis said with a nod. "I notice that when most people rebattle me, they tend to go for the same Pokemon order. It is refreshing to see someone shake things up a bit, though you could have prepared your Pokemon better to face the same opponents."

"I am sure you would have liked that," Alaska replied with an icy smile, "especially considering _you_ appear to be the one reusing Pokemon here." Alexis laughed, and Jumpluff giggled as well, and Alaska glowered up at the flying dandelion.

"Alaska, I start all my battles the same way; Jumpluff is capable of setting quite a few things up and letting me test what sort of challenger I am about to face," the gym leader replied. "I may have battled you before, but Jumpluff can still come in handy, as you will know see. Sunny Day, let's go!" Alaska saw Evelyn join her grandson in smirking, and she knew they thought she had walked back into the same battle. But none of them knew what she had prepared.

"We have a few tricks to. Stun Spore, hold it in!" She shouted. Jumpluff threw the flaming ball towards the roof of the gym, where it unfolded and spread out, lighting and heating up the gym within seconds. However, no one else seemed to notice the attack: everyone looked stunned with Alaska's command, and she grinned deviously at them all, glad to see her plan was working.

"Interesting move," Alexis said, though she suddenly seemed uncertain. "Though you should know by know that your little tricks won't secure you the win! Cotton Spore, go!"

"We'll see; Stun Spore, hold it again!" Alaska cried. The gym attendants began to whisper now, all of them looking confused at Alaska's order. _Let them mull this over, _Alaska thought, watching them all before turning back to Frances. _As long as she can hold it all in, I will be on my way to victory._

"Pluff Pluff!" Jumpluff cried, and released the same spores she had used against Paige last week. They moved at incredible speeds thanks to her Chlorophyll boost, but Frances was prepared, and she began to scuttle through the grass, visible only as a swerving orange mass rushing through the green. The Cotton Spores followed after, but only one was able to secure itself to Frances. _Nothing to worry about, we don't need speed for the time being, _Alaska thought, though she hoped Frances would not be impaired when the time came to attack.

"It seems Parasect is making use of our tall grass," Alexis said, talking to them all in general. "But now she has been slowed, and Jumpluff still has all her speed. Air Slash, go!"

"Just what I was waiting for," Alaska said, grinning broadly. "Stun Spore, fire all of them at Air Slash!" She yelled, and the gym attendants gasped. Everyone in the stands looked confused except for Sandy, who winked at Alaska when she looked across. Alaska smiled wickedly and watched as Jumpluff quickly spun her right arm around, gathering wind around the cotton puff that formed into a spinning, lilac ball.

"JUM!" She yelled, and threw it down towards Frances. Alaska tensed up, hoping Frances would respond in time, fearing that something would go wrong. The Air Slash was moving quickly, and there was still no sign of Frances responding, the grass masking her moves…

"PARAAAA!" Frances cried, and a giant spray of yellow particles was released from the top of her mushroom, just as the Air Slash struck her. The Stun Spores were sent flying as the attack exploded, and a yellow cloud quickly engulfed the entire field. Alaska felt bad for Frances, knowing the Air Slash was super effective against her, but wanted to punch the air in delight as the spores rose up towards Jumpluff. The Cottonweed Pokemon coughed as she breathed them in, and she suddenly fell several metres towards the field, the cotton on her body flashing yellow.

"How… how did you know that?" Alexis asked, looking gobsmacked. "I never used Air Slash in my last battle!"

"I know, but you've used it before, plenty of times," Alaska replied, her eyes glinting mischievously. When she had gone to the Pokemon Center to train, it had been easy enough for Alaska to use her laptop and access the internet away from prying Athlew eyes. She searched online and learnt all about Alexis' strategy of using Jumpluff to set up the battle, and learnt about Jumpluff's unused fourth move from their first battle.

"I would seriously recommend changing things next time Alexis, you've become, dare I say, predictable?" Alaska said, and she flashed a smile as the rest of the Stun Spores fell to the ground. Frances stood in a clearing made by the exploded Air Slash, only a metre below Jumpluff now, looking a bit battered but still standing. Her face that once always frightened and nervous in these situations looked confident for a change, and Alaska laughed as the Parasect winked at her. Alexis, on the other hand, was losing her calm and happy demeanour, looking irritably at Jericho and Evelyn and then back at a pained Jumpluff.

"Very well Alaska, I will give you that move, but it does not mean you have won yet! Air Slash, once more!" Alexis yelled, and Jumpluff spun around, staring down at Frances with a determined look. She began to spun her arm, but it only rotated three times before it froze, and Jumpluff cried out in pain, floating closer to the grass.

"Yes!" Alaska yelled, unable to contain herself. "Metal Claw, grab onto her!" She shouted. Frances nodded and bent down, pushing her many legs into the earth and jumping up. Both claws glowed silver and the Parasect grabbed tightly onto Jumpluff's arms. Jumpluff screamed and tried to break away as she sunk back down to the field with Frances, but her paralyzed body and the tight grip prevented her from freeing herself.

"This is entirely unorthodox!" Evelyn shouted. "Referee, do something!" Annabelle looked stunned at being shouted at by this elderly woman, and began to stutter nervously, looking between Alexis and her fellow gym attendants for help.

"Th-The Pokemon L-League Rules st-state that P-P-Pokemon may hold onto other P-Pokemon in battle," she informed Evelyn. The elderly women fumed at this, and shot daggers at Alaska, who replied with a simple smile.

"Holding onto Jumpluff won't do you any good!" Alexis shouted, looking nearly angry. "Solarbeam, now!"

"Oh no, that's what I wanted," Alaska replied with her sly grin, and she saw Morimoto whisper something into Daisy's ear, smiling as he did so. "Frances, redirect Jumpluff and then use your own Solarbeam!" This made Jericho and several attendants leap up, all of them shouting at once, but Alaska pretended to ignore them as she savoured their frustration. Jumpluff absorbed in energy using the Sunny Day that shimmered above them, but as her top cotton ball glowed a dazzling green, Frances used her control over the paralyzed Pokemon to point her towards the roof. The green beam was fired into the air, and the attendants screamed as glass shattered. Alaska covered her face as shards rained down upon them, and she saw Frances struggling to hold on as Jumpluff began to fight. The beam began to move violently, going down the walls and exploding the panes, before Frances could get control again and point her towards the stands. The attendants screamed and jumped, and the middle of their stands was blown to splinters.

"What sort of battle is this?" Jericho yelled. "Annabelle, do something, stop her!" The blonde referee looked confused once more, but before she could get a sentence out, Frances absorbed her own energy in.

"PARAAAA PARAAAA!" She screamed, and fired the Solarbeam directly into Jumpluff's face. The scream echoed around the gym, and Alaska felt some sort of justice for the same pain experienced by Paige during the first battle. She watched calmly as the green energy engulfed Jumpluff for half a minute before Frances ran out. The Mushroom Pokemon let go of Jumpluff, and the Flying Grass type collapsed onto the field. Her eyes were still open, but it was clear that Jumpluff was close to unconsciousness. Her battered state silenced Alexis' supporters, and Alaska glanced over at her own, and was surprised to see some sort of proud nod from Morimoto.

"Slash," Alaska called out and looked at Alexis; the gym leader had frozen, shaken by the last set of moves, unable to call out an order as she looked down at Jumpluff. Silence hung in the air as Frances scuttled forwards and raised a claw, which glowed a blinding white before it was drawn across Jumpluff. The Cottonweed Pokemon made a soft squeak as the Slash cut across her, and then everything was silent once again.

"Jumpluff is unable to battle," Annabelle said, looking close to tears, which Alaska put down to stress. Jumpluff collapsed into energy and disappeared, all in silence, but inside Alaska was celebrating, a fiesta happening around her heart and mind.

"Wooo…." Sandy called from the stands, sounding excited at first but fading off as everyone glared at her. Alaska gave her a smile before looking down at Frances. The Parasect looked so proud of herself that it filled Alaska with joy, and she beckoned her across.

"That was excellent, I am so happy for you," she said, and gave her battered Pokemon a hug, which Frances responded by wrapping her claws around her. "Take a rest, I may need you later," Alaska added, and brought the Bug type back.

"That was some fine skills Alaska," Alexis called out, forcing a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Good work. Nevertheless, the rest of the battle may not be so easy."

"We'll see," Alaska responded, and gave her a wink. Alexis scowled as she grabbed her next PokeBall, and threw it quickly onto the field without a word. Vinnie the Tangrowth stood beneath where Jumpluff had formed, looking as much of a hairy beast as he had last time. Alaska remembered Nadia's fight against him, but knew that this was not a battle for her.

"Paige, it's your turn to shine!" She shouted, and threw her PokeBall into the air. Her Pidgeotto formed beneath the glow of Sunny Day, floating above Vinnie and looking radiant in the orange heat. _Though not as much heat as there will soon be, _Alaska thought, smirking to see Paige glowing with fire.

"Interesting choice," Alexis said. "Using a Flying type would make you immune to the extreme lengths of Vinnie's arms, or so you would think." The gym leader smiled, and Alaska cursed in her head, that being the very reason she had chosen Paige. She kept her face blank though and kept going over her move choices to keep herself focussed. "We'll see how well that pays off," Alexis called. "Now Vinnie, use AncientPower!"

"Quick Attack and fly around the gym!" Alaska called. Paige shot down at blinding speeds, and as Vinnie raised his arms to bring dust up, the Pidgeotto flew directly into the middle of his body with enough force to send the Tangrowth wobbling backwards on his odd red feet.

"TAN!" He yelled, and waved his arms frantically. The dust formed into floating rocks, and with another flick, they were sent towards Paige. She soared up towards the roof, moving as fast as her wings allowed. Alaska thought for a moment that the AncientPower would hit, but Paige turned just before she crashed into the roof, and the AncientPower burst through the Sunny Day and disintegrated into dust.

"Great work Paige!" Alaska called, as Butterfree and Bellsprout did a cheer from the stands. Paige chirped back at her as she continued to fly near the Sunny Day, something Alaska had instructed her to do during training; that way, they would always have the height advantage on their side when it came into countering moves.

"Speedy thing, isn't she…," Alexis said irritably, and Alaska was surprised by how quickly the gym leader was becoming annoyed. Clearly, she had expected another clean sweep through her team, and Alaska took pleasure in knowing how annoying she was being. "If AncientPower won't work, we'll just have to test what a Flying Pokemon can do… Wring Out!" She commanded. Alaska had waited for this move to be given, but knew using her secret strategy too early could blow the shock factor she had planned for the battle.

"Aerial Ace for now, but keep that Tangrowth guessing!" Alaska called out. Paige understood what she meant, and quickly began to zip about the gym. Eyes flickered across trying to see where Paige was going, but the Bird Pokemon was always quick to change her direction, going up, down, left, right, spinning around, doing anything that she could possibly do to throw Vinnie off.

"Don't fall for her tricks, attack!" Alexis cried.

"GROOOO!" Vinnie boomed, and he raised his arms towards the roof. They shot up like a rocket, doubling in length within seconds, and Alaska frowned, knowing that they were going to be a problem no matter what Paige did. Paige saw them coming and quickly dived down, causing the red tips to crash into the roof, cracking more panes, but Vinnie was watching and his arms were quick to change direction.

"Behind you Paige!" Alaska cried. Paige looked back and saw the arms coming, and wrapped her wings around her body, allowing her to fall faster towards Vinnie. It looked as though she was going to crash into the ground, but Alaska felt relived to see the wings erupting into lilac light, and at the last moment Paige swerved and stretched her wings out.

"Pidgeeeey!" She cried as they cut across Vinnie, this time forcing him to roll backwards onto his back, and Alaska and Sandy both cheered as the Pidgeotto flew away from destruction. Alexis was getting more visibly annoyed now, and Jericho and Evelyn were caught up in a whispered conversation. Alaska was proud with herself for causing them so much annoyance already, and looked forward to seeing how they would react next.

"Wring Out, go straight away!" Alexis commanded. Vinnie got back to his feet with surprising speed for such a hefty Pokemon, and his arms, which had fallen limply to the field, were sent soaring once more. Paige had not gotten as far away this time, and she squawked as the tips whacked against her, the arms trying to grab hold of her. She whacked them with her wings, but the arms were closing in, the right one starting to wrap around her.

_Now's the time, _Alaska thought, and she smiled wickedly to herself. "TWISTER!" She roared, and Alexis' jaw dropped.

"OOOOOTTOOOO!" Paige cried, and she began to spin around rapidly, the arms still trying to grab hold of her. Purple energy began to wrap around Paige, and Vinnie's arms began to rotate around her, caught up in the wind and speed. Alaska beamed as a giant Twister erupted around Paige, and suddenly Vinnie was drawn towards it, unable to pull his arms back as they became caught up in the spinning vortex.

"Tan… Tan Tan… TAN!" The Tangrowth cried, trying to move backwards, but his round feet kicked uselessly in mid air as he was lifted up, and suddenly Vinnie was spinning as well. The gym attendants screamed as he crashed through what remained of the stands, and Sandy was the only one quick enough to move when Vinnie came full circle and smashed into theirs, the others sent jumping and rolling. Alaska and Alexis both ducked to avoid the suddenly airborne Grass type, his shouts being tossed aside by the speed.

"It's time to stop Paige!" Alaska called up, struggling not to laugh. The Twister stopped spinning, and Vinnie was sent flying across the gym as his arms were made free. He crashed into the wall behind the attendants stand, and they fled towards the flower boxes as large green shards fell near them. Vinnie followed after a moment later, landing with a crunch on the collapsed stand. Annabelle turned around, having remained frozen during the Twister, and moved nervously towards Vinnie. However, the Vine Pokemon let out a groan and pushed himself up, looking dazed behind the mass of blue-green vines that made up his body.

"Vinnie is still able to battle," Annabelle announced, and moved quickly away from the Tangrowth as if she would be caught up in Paige's next attack. Alaska looked up at her starter and beamed, and Paige grinned back before hovering down, landing on the grass before her trainer.

"Quick Attack should do the trick," Alaska said, and Paige nodded. The two looked up at Alexis, but the gym leader ignored them, tapping her fingers irritably against her side as she stared at her injured Pokemon, whose arms seemed to have been stretched to an even longer length.

"Pidge Ot," Pidgeotto said with a shrug of her wings, and quickly darted forwards. Vinnie looked around in time to see the white and brown blur coming towards him, but simply took the attack that forced him back onto his back, and this time he made no noise.

"Vinnie is now unable to battle…," Annabelle said, watching Paige as she soared in a victory lap, the Sunny Day beginning to fade above her. Alaska jumped into the air and cheered, happiness filling her body. She had not felt this great for weeks, not with all the destruction, near deaths and explosions she had found herself caught up in. Watching another gym leader fall before her and the people who wanted to end her journey suffer on the sidelines was enough to fill her with joy, and Alaska was pleased her Pokemon were able to experience some victory as well.

"You are doing well Alaska, though I must say I am surprised," Alexis called out as she brought Vinnie back. "You did so poorly last time, I can only wonder what you have done to change this." _Suspecting me of cheating? _Alaska thought, the idea bringing a laugh to her lips, pleased to see that beneath her smiles and kindness, Alexis had the same pettiness and desire for reputation all the gym leaders possessed.

"A focussed and clear mind leads to happy battling for everyone involved – or, at least to the person that's winning," Alaska said with a flash of a smile. "Your battle taught me a lesson, and I knew that if I was going to face you again, I needed to plan out every move beforehand." Alexis grimaced back at her, and Alaska smiled back as cheerfully as possible. "I just wanted to show just how skilled I truly am, and that nothing was going to hold me back." She looked over at Evelyn and Jericho, who looked irritated about the stand collapsing, and gave them both a wink. Evelyn grunted and adjusted her dress, and Sandy stifled a laugh.

"Very well Alaska, let us see how much you trained," Alexis called. She pulled her last PokeBall from her pocket, and she smiled once more as she threw it towards the field. Alaska knew who was coming, but that didn't make her any less worrisome when Meganium formed where Vinnie had stood before thrown away. It was clear that this was the powerhouse in Alexis' team, the Pokemon she saved for the very end. Alaska still had all three Pokemon on her team, and Paige had survived her battle with Vinnie with barely any damage asides from minor groping. Alaska knew she should not be worried, but the doubt and concern that had lived inside her mind for weeks crept back in moments like this.

"You can win this Alaska!" Sandy shouted. "You have a winning strategy, nothing can change that!" Alaska she smiled to herself, glad to have her friend on her side to keep her sane whenever she needed it.

"Come on Paige, let's get this going!" Alaska shouted up, causing Paige to stop flying about and dive down so she was only a metre above. "Hang in for a few moves before we truly get this battle going!"

"Intriguing," Alexis said, looking a bit puzzled but keeping her smile. "We shall see how things turn out Alaska, the battle is only just beginning, after all. Meganium, Solarbeam!" Alaska looked up and saw Sunny Day had dispersed, taking away the light and heat it had brought and fading away into nothing. She wondered if Alexis had noticed this, and could only wonder what ploy she was up to now.

"Aerial Ace while she's occupied," Alaska shouted, and felt a rush of wind as Paige soared away above her head. Her wings glowed a magnificent shade of purple, and Alaska smiled as she watched them cut across Meganium's neck, right above where the sunlight was being absorbed into her flowers. Alexis looked unfazed though, and Alaska felt nervous, wondering just how powerful this next attack would be.  
"Going around from behind and use Quick Attack," she shouted. Paige quickly turned and tucked her wings in, diving down from near the roof at such quick speeds that Alexis moved out of the way in fear.

"Meg!" Meganium cried as she was hit, stumbling forwards, but the Starter Pokemon recovered and turned her neck to face Paige. Her neck of flowers was glowing with a mix of green and amber, and when she opened her mouth, the energy came together in a ball. Paige looked down in fright, and Alaska realised that she was in trouble.

"FLY!" She screamed, and Paige took off just as the Solarbeam was fired. Green energy smashed into two walls at once, sending more shards flying through the air. The beam chased after her, destroying more panes and making Alaska's 'supporters' cover their heads. She thought for a moment that Paige could escaped, but as the Pidgeotto turned to avoid crashing into a bit of wall, the Solarbeam finally caught up with her. Alaska gasped as green engulfed her oldest friend, the beam firing up towards the roof. There was the shattering of glass, but Paige made no noise as she was swallowed by the Solarbeam.

_Oh god… please don't let here be hurt, _Alaska thought, remembering the shattered window at the Game Freak building. The Solarbeam faded away, and without the energy to hold her up, Paige fell limply to the ground. Alaska cried out and ran forwards, Paige landing right behind Sandy and her team. They parted to let her through, and Alaska collapsed to her knees besides her Pokemon. She did not care for strategies or winning for the moment; she simply knelt beside Paige, the Flying type a rumpled ball of feathers laying weakly on the grass.

"Paige, are you alright? Can you hear me? Are you still conscious?" Alaska asked, carefully stroking her, hoping she was not hurt. Dark thoughts were creeping back again, but before they could consume Alaska's mind, there was a soft groan. Alaska breathed deeply in relief as Paige pushed herself back up, a determined smile plastered on her weary face. "Oh thank god, I was so worried!" Alaska said, and stretched out to hug her, but saw Jericho and Evelyn eyeing her like birds of prey, waiting for her to make a mistake. "After we win, we will hug and celebrate as much as possible, okay" Alaska said as she glared over at the grandmother and grandson. "Do you think you can manage one last move?" She asked with a wink, and Paige laughed.

"Pidge Pidge Otto Pidgey Otto To!" She said, and her eyes suddenly burned a dazzling orange.

"Just the answer I was looking for," Alaska said, and she got back to her feet. Paige pushed herself into the air, and they moved back towards the field, smiling at Sandy, Butterfree and Bellsprout as they went past. Sandy whispered 'good luck' as they went by, and Alaska replied with a simple nod, knowing that once this was over, she could thank her properly for everything.

"I see Pidgeotto survived," Alexis called out once Alaska took her spot once more. "Must be a more valiant Pokemon than the one I battled last week. Did you go and catch a new one, or did you simply pull off some Pokemon miracle?"

"It wasn't me that changed her, it was her own determination to crush you," Alaska replied, and was glad to see Alexis' smirk falter. "But now that you mention it, my team has really changed dramatically over the past few days. You could almost say they are completely different."

"I'll keep that in mind," Alexis replied with a brief, suspicious nod. "Meganium, use Petal Dance!" Alaska's heart pounded against her chest, knowing now was the moment she had been waiting for, the time to strike. She looked to make sure Jericho, Evelyn, Daisy and Morimoto were all watching, and then faced Paige, barely able to breathe, and smiled as her best friend gave her a look to show she was ready.

"HEAT WAVE, ON THE FIELD!" Alaska screamed, and the gym seemed to gasp in shock, but Alaska could not hear it above the beating of her heart, the blood in her ears, the victory cheers in her mind. She watched beaming as Paige's body glowed orange, and she tucked her wings in, drawing in the heat of the gym.

"PIDGEEEEEEEEEEY!" She cried, and spread her wings wide. The air below her turned orange, and Alaska could feel the heat wafting from it. Meganium backed away, but she had never been the target. Amelia's words echoed in Alaska's mind as the attack struck the field, the grass beginning to brown and burn, and within seconds the entire field erupted in flame. Alaska had to step backwards and cover her face as the flames quickly consumed everything, orange and yellow and red dancing before her where green had just been. Meganium cried out as the flames surrounded her, and Alaska felt pity for a Pokemon she had once admired, but this was what she had to do to teach them all a lesson.

"A wise person recently suggested to me that I start fighting my opponents on a field that suits me rather than one they always choose," Alaska called out. "They were talking about a certain mad scientist, but I realised that that was the key to defeating you Alexis: gym leaders always chose the field, going for one that plays to their advantage. Brock uses rocks and sand that shield his Pokemon, Misty battles in a giant swimming pool that gives her Water types immediate advantage, Surge fights in a plain field where no one can hide from his attacks. But why must we be confinded by how the gym leaders wish to play this game? You, Alexis, seem to think the grass is your friend, that it will support and hide your Pokemon, Pokemon that know the field well. So if grass gave way to fire, what to do then?" She could not see Alexis through the heat shimmering from the field, but Alaska could clearly see the stunned silence on Jericho, Evelyn and Daisy's faces, while Morimoto struggled not to look impressed.

"Sorry to keep destroying the gym, but this is about victory, and I strive to win whenever possible," Alaska said. "Paige, your switched out, go join Sandy and watch the world burn." Paige nodded, and quickly descended between Sandy and Bellsprout. Alaska pulled a Great Ball out, pausing before she threw it. The flaming field had been her way of shifting the advantage, but now it was up to one Pokemon to finish it all in ways Paige or Frances would never be able to do. Alaska simply hoped she was ready for this.

"Nadia, end this!" She cried, and threw the PokeBall into the fire. When Alaska had first realised through her research that Paige could learn Heat Wave, she had focussed on teaching her the move in order to burn the field, but knew that she was too big to hide amongst the flames, and Meganium or whoever the field was used against would have enough moves to defeat Paige and ignore the burning. That was when Alaska decided to use Nadia: her swift speed would allow her to run across the field, disguised by flames, and use any attacks that would defeat Alexis' team.

"Ran Ran Ran!" Nadia cried as she formed from the blue energy, a small purple thing that became hidden by the fire. Alaska could see Meganium looked confused, trying to find her opponent, and knew already her plan was starting to work.

"I would end this battle right now if I thought you were breaking any rules," Alexis cried out, "though I believe that you are technically allowed to do something like this, but I must say that it is extremely unorthodox and you're only borderline being allowed to continue."

"Sorry Alexis, I did not mean to do this to you, rather to your friends," Alaska replied, smiling over at Jericho and Evelyn. "I think it is unorthodox to try and force someone to do something they have no desire to do, so I am simply using your gym to showcase my feelings on that, and show what happens when you cross me." She waited for Jericho or Evelyn to say something in response, but they remained silent, only the flickering and cracking of the flame sounding in response.

"Whatever your reason, you have only given me more reason to win," Alexis shouted out. "Solarbeam!"

"Ice Beam, and then run!" Alaska shouted. She had complete trust in the loyalty Nadia held for her and the power she had already possessed, and knew that she could pull off this win.

"NIDOOO!" The Poison Pin Pokemon yelled, and a light blue beam emerged several metres from where Alaska had thrown the PokeBall. Meganium cried out as the beam struck her, but Alaska was disappointed to see she did not freeze as a result.

"Ice and fire, interesting strategy," Alexis called out, sounding as though she was laughing. "Fire now Meganium!"

"Poison Jab!" Alaska yelled, annoyed at her jibe. She looked to see where Nadia was coming from, but the fire was growing, dancing across the field and hiding everything from view. All Alaska could see was the energy forming in Meganium's mouth, and she hoped Nadia could get a hit in and then escape.

"RAN!" Alaska turned at the cry, and smiled as she saw a shadow crash into Meganium's lower jaw. The Johto Starter cried out, stumbling a bit to the left, but she turned her head and unleashed the powerful green beam. The light shone even brighter than the flames, and there was a stifled cry from within. A second later, Nadia burst through the flames to Alaska's left, followed by the Solarbeam that made the flames part and shimmer, but Alaska was pleased to see her Poison type roll the attack off and land smoothly on her little paws, letting the rest of the attack exploded on a flower box.

"Are you alright?" Alaska called out.

"Nido Ran Ran Nido Do Do Ran!" Nadia replied, pawing at the ground, an angry look on her face as she stared towards the flames, itching to get back into it all. Alaska was pleased to see she was doing so well, and turned back towards the field, wondering what to do next.

"Strike her with Ice Beam!" Alaska commanded. "Try and keep as far back as possible for now though!" She knew Solarbeam and Petal Dance were currently in Meganium's arsenal, but Alaska was not sure what the other moves were, having read that Meganium was the only Pokemon Alexis was likely to change the moves for. She wished she could see Alexis' face, wanting to be able to tell what the gym leader was planning, but Alaska would have to settle for simply guessing.

"Alright Meganium, use Earthquake!" Alexis roared, and Alaska felt as though she had just been punched in the stomach.

"Well fuck me then," she hissed, and watched fearfully as Nadia ran back into the fire. Alexis must have prepared Meganium for any Poison or Fire types that came into the gym, and it seemed logical to use this move against Nadia, but Alaska was annoyed. She had no idea how well Nadia would take this attack, or what it would do to the flames, and she wondered for a moment if switching back to Paige was the right thing to do now..

"MEGAAAAA!" Meganium roared, and Alaska watched as she reared onto her hind legs, the claws on her front feet glowing a dim brown amongst the flames, and she came crashing back down. Alaska cried out as the entire gym began to shake, shards of glass coming loose from the roof. The flames shook violently, and Alaska watched as many went out, others quickly curling over and beginning to flicker. There was no sign of Nadia anywhere, and Alaska thought that her lack of sound was a sign of fainting, but her fears were quickly smashed as an ice blue beam fired from her right, and the Earthquake stopped as Meganium was hit in the face.

When the shaking stopped, Alaska quickly regained her balance and looked across the field. More flames had died, leaving either bare earth or scorched black grass in its place. Only a few flames flickered now, allowing Alaska to see Meganium and Alexis fully, but there were now less places for Nadia to hide. The Poison Pin Pokemon was standing strong, but she looked more weary than she had a moment ago, which was understandable being an un-evolved Poison type facing an Earthquake by a fully evolved Pokemon. The good sign was that Nadia was still conscious, and she had the determined rage on her face Alaska had come to respect. She also noticed that Meganium was not doing so well: her body looked like it had been scorched, and the petals hung limply around her neck.

_Nadia may have a chance to finish this all, _Alaska thought. _If we can pull off one more strong move, this match could be in the bag. _

"It seems your little trick has come to a halt," Alexis called out. "I don't think Nadia will be able to survive another attack, and the rest of your Pokemon seemed weary last time I checked." The gym leader knew too that the battle was nearing an end, and Alaska tensed up, going over her last move.

"We're made of stronger stuff than you Celadon lot, all three of them will be able to survive," Alaska said, looking across at Paige and getting a reassuring nod.

"We shall see; Solarbeam!" Alexis cried.

"Skull Bash!" Alaska shouted. "But move over here and line up with Meganium!"

"Are you putting your Pokemon directly in place to be attacked now are you?" Alexis asked with a smirk as Nadia moved in front of her, her head glowing white as she stared down Meganium.

"I just want Nadia to hit the exact right spot," Alaska replied, and she smiled as her eyes flickered towards the green panes behind Meganium and Alexis, though no one else noticed. Alexis nodded and fell silent, and Alaska suddenly noticed how tense the gym had gotten. No one was saying a word, no one was whispering or giggling or gasping. Only the dying flames crackling and Nadia pawing at the ground could be heard. Alaska looked around, seeing Annabelle and the gym attendants watch with wide, worried eyes, eyeing Jericho and Evelyn as they struggled to hide their worry and irritation, got a nervous smile from Sandy, a proud nod from Paige, blank faces from Daisy and Morimoto.

_This is it, the final move, _Alaska told herself, watching the two Pokemon before her. _Nadia can end this, I know she can, and I know she will do it for me and for Paige and Frances… and even Darwin, wherever the hell that hairy monkey ended up… _She tensed up, clenching her fists, thinking of everything that had happened this last week, these last months, and knew that this win meant so much more than a gym badge… it meant normality.

"NIDOOOOO!" Nadia screamed, her head suddenly glowing a brilliant white, and she stopped pawing at the ground, kicking off with her back legs, and everyone around them drew their breath.

"YOU CAN DO THIS NADIA!" Alaska screamed, and she watched the small purple Pokemon sprint across the scorched field, moving as fast as Alaska had ever seen her go, turning quickly into a horned white blur. Meganium stood her ground, opening her mouth wide, green particles forming there as they travelled from her flower. Alaska could almost not watch, seeing her Pokemon sprint forwards, so close now…

"MEGANI!" Meganium cried, and she reared her head back, the green glow erupting from her mouth. Alaska's heart sank, seeing Nadia was still a few metres away… there was not any time for her to strike….

"RAAAAAAAAN!" Nadia screamed, and she jumped. Alaska, Sandy, Alexis, Annabelle, everyone gasped, and they watched as Nadia propelled through the air, getting near Meganium as she lowered her head to fire. But the attack never hit. The Solarbeam skimmed past Nadia, and a second later the little forgotten Pokemon from the Day Care Center slammed into Meganium's neck. Alaska's heart skipped a beat as the Solarbeam was directed upwards, smashing into the roof and obliterating panes of glass, and she watched as Meganium was lifted off her feet, forcing Alexis to jump out of the way, and was propelled into the back wall by Nadia.

And that was when it all shattered.

Alaska had never felt so much happiness in her life than she did right then watching Meganium smash through the gym. Panes around her exploded, the entire metal framework seeming to lurch, sending more panes falling throughout the whole gym. The Solarbeam struck the rest of the wall with enough force to turn every pane into little emerald shards. And even before Nadia leapt backwards, followed moments later by Meganium slumping unconscious to the earth, Alaska knew that she had won.

"YES!" She screamed, loud enough to shatter the eerie silence that had followed, and she sprinted forwards as Annabelle declared her the winner. Alaska crunched over black grass and broken glass and ran by fire, not caring any more as she thought solely of her win. Nadia turned towards her as she approached, and Alaska spread her arms open, ready to celebrate this victory.

"Ran Ran!" Nadia cried excitedly, and she began to run, but paused after only a few seconds. She looked confused, and Alaska stopped as well, quickly becoming worried. She then gasped as Nadia began to glow white, and watched in awe as the little Pokemon quickly began to double in size. Her tail and the spikes on her back got longer, her ears grew, her legs and body thickened, and Nadia began to adjust her body into a hunched over position. The light faded away as quickly as it had come, and where a Nidoran had been a moment earlier now sat a red eyed, sharp clawed Nidorina pawing at the burnt earth.

"Holy shit, you look awesome!" Alaska cried, and she bent down and heaved her newly evolve Pokemon up. Nadia's new weight nearly broke her back, but Alaska was too overcome with happiness to care. "Thank you for Nadia, what you did today was wonderful! And I think your evolution was just the icing on the cake… Nidorina," she added with a wink, and Nadia laughed heartily.

"Rina Nido Rin!" She replied, and Alaska laughed with joy. They spun around together, and Alaska saw Sandy, Paige, Butterfree and Bellsprout rushing towards her. She wanted to go and join them, but Alaska turned and faced Alexis first. The gym leader looked as though she had just watched her entire family get murdered by a pack of angry Sunkern: Alaska could see shock, anger and disappointment through Alexis' face as the Grass master examined her back wall. Alaska hadn't properly taken it in yet, and she turned around and saw only a dented metal frame, all the glass having fallen and shattered around the unconscious Meganium. Celadon was visibly through the open wall, and passer-by's were staring through in confusion.

"You destroyed my gym…," Alexis said, her voice a hoarse whisper. "You ruined it…"

"Oh cut the dramatics, this ain't a soap opera," Alaska said with a roll of her eyes. "You should see what I did to the Vermilion Gym." She turned to face the gym leader and smiled, putting a free hand out. "Badge and Technical Machine, please." Alexis turned and looked down at Alaska with a look that could rival a Golem for ugliness and ferociousness. It was clear the gym leader did not want to do anything for Alaska, but there was nothing in the rules that prevented Alaska from getting her reward, and Alexis had no choice but to hand the Rainbow Badge and a green tinted machine across.

"Don't do it Alexis!" Evelyn cried from the background, and Alaska turned to see the elderly woman marching forwards, Jericho, Daisy, Morimoto and Flareon following close behind. "I don't know what this little madam thinks she is doing, but whatever it is, it must be illegal! She just broke your gym for gods sakes Alexis, she should be arrested, or being made to pay for it all!"

"Mrs Athlew, there is nothing in the Indigo League Rulebook that states what Alaska did today was illegal in any way," Morimoto explained. "And I do know the rulebook word for word, I have read it enough times for my games."

"This isn't a game, this is real life!" Evelyn squawked, and she eyed Alaska evilly, pointing a sharp, wrinkled finger at her. "You think battling Gideon will be just like all of this, but you are wrong, you foolish little brat! If you keep this journey up, you will be dead within days, and our world will be doomed by your selfish actions!" Alaska smiled coldly back at the matriarch, and placed Nadia down next to Paige. She reached into her bag that hung limply from her back and pulled out a plastic bag. Everyone except Sandy looked confused when Alaska pulled out the tray of brownies, especially when ash flew into the air when Alaska broke a piece off.

"Eve – may I call you Eve, seems much nicer than senile old bitch? –, you may find that I am a lot like this brownie. People seem to expect me to be some weak, mushy little thing that can easily be kicked around, something that can be devoured as easy as pie. However, if someone tries to take a bite out of me, I am going to make it very difficult for them to swallow," Alaska explained, her eyes twinkling as she bounced the brownie in her hand. "Because inside, I don't have a rich, chocolately center – I have been burnt so many times recently that I am about as innocent as a gun toting serial killer. You will all learn pretty soon just how tough I really am," Alaska said, and she threw the piece of brownie. It hit Jericho right between the eyes, and Evelyn cried out as he collapsed to the ground.

"No one is going to control me, I am going to do exactly as I please. I will defeat the rest of these gyms to the best of my abilities, and then I will watch Gideon in a field of my choice and make him burn as well." Alaska said all this with a flash of her teeth, and she snatched her prizes from Alexis' hand. The gym leader looked like she had been slapped, but Alaska did not care. She did not even look at Sandy or Paige as she walked off the field and towards the exit. Alaska simply wondered if her little performance had paid off, and that Evelyn, Jericho, the whole damn lot of them would view her differently from now on. Alaska looked down at the badge in her hands as she walked out with her entourage, and smiled as the light reflected off each individual colour.

_Only four steps left, _she thought. The victory joy seemed everlasting as Alaska walked through the plant boxes and flower beds, knowing that now her journey was all for her to control, that she had shown them what she was truly made of.

"Someone clearly had some issues to work out," Clyde sneered as the doors slid open for Alaska.

"Go fuck yourself," she said to the computer, and walked out into Celadon City with her head held high, ready to face the world again: _I won, I won, I won, and nothing can stop me_ now.

**This ends the Celadon Arc, blog and interlude up next whenever I can do them**


	72. Blog 10: Victory thy Name is Alaska

**A bit of a long time since I have done one of these! **

**Blog Ten: Victory thy name is Alaska **

Well… that was what I call an interesting week.

I would have updated sooner on the sheer drama that is my life (seriously, I feel like I am on some teen soap opera, except instead of having two barely attractive guys to choose between, robots try to murder me. I tell you, if _Gossip Gardevoir _and _Magnezone: The Terminator _ever cross over, I will be ready to watch it, love it and get into overly serious debates with randoms on the internet over every small detail of it.) However, I have been a wee bit busy spending some quality time in Celadon City, and this week started as all of mine do with me nearly dying!

If you heard that another tunnel had collapsed last week, and thought 'I bet that's Alaska's fault', then congratulations, you were right! My lovely shadowed stalker came to drop an advice bomb on me while I was travelling to Celadon sneakily, but in my usual haste, I thought it would be best to ignore and attack him. The Shadow-er Man promptly destroyed the tunnel, causing the other friend I mentioned last blog to disappear. I am not sure about any of this because I fainted (I always seem to faint rather conveniently halfway through things like this. It is like some bad plot device in a novel where the author has no other way for you to get from one place to the other. I am not sure the last time I properly walked into a city…) and slept for a few days, and then woke up inside a rather interesting house.

I hope you have all heard of the Athlews, because I don't know how to really describe them. They are kind of like those people you see with reality shows on TV that they don't deserve: basically, they are some really rich people that own about half of Celadon and kind of rule the social hierarchy a bit, and they think that this gives them power. Another friend who was a friend of the friend that went missing (I shouldn't really be naming names – they are kind of spies, just not the sort you'd spend $15 on at the movies) is friends with these rich people and she thought they were friendly, but they aren't exactly going to be friends of mine any time soon. In summary: nice house, awful people. The matriarch of the family, a wizened old troll named Evelyn, had decided that I was not to get involved in any of Gideon's attacks on Kanto and tried to force me to stay inside her mansion until things were over.

Now, I may not want to be involved with Gideon in the slightest. In fact, I am looking forward to him eventually being publicly humiliated and brought down a peg or two, as Gossip Gardevoir did to Sharona in the Season Three finale, except just with a touch more arrests or bloody justice murder going on. However, I refused to be locked up because of this, protected from him like some little Igglybuff being chased after a Tyranitar. I came on this journey in the first place to prove myself, to set out to win the gym badges and show the world you don't need to be some starter-hogging, reality TV-hoebag to become the Champion. I was not about to let some dried up old woman tell me what to do, so I demanded that I be given a chance to prove myself by defeating Alexis, knowing at the time I could win, and they agreed to let me strut my stuff.

I will make a long, painful story short… I lost.

The loss was my fault. I walked into the battle without any real strategy, simply thinking having a few type advantages would secure it for me, even though that is not always the case. Alexis, the new gym leader and friend of Mr Rich Dick, Jericho Athlew, was rather powerful, with none of her Pokemon fainting. We tend to underestimate Grass types, as they have so many weaknesses, but I was quickly put in my place, and one by one, all of my Pokemon fell. It was the most crushing moment of my life, which may make me sound a bit selfish, considering I left my family barely holding it together and Sandy had only recently recovered from her equally recent gunshot wound, but this was something different. I had done all of this for as part of my journey. Without this mission of mine to prove myself to the world, it all would have been for nothing: the destruction, Sandy's shooting, my own injuries, getting involved in Gideon's scheme. If I didn't have the Indigo Plataeu to work towards, than what point was this all? Being locked away like a damsel in a tower would have made those last weeks worthless, and I would lose the experiences I had gained, letting Chloe and her boy toys move ahead while I was left to watch them on their red carpeted path to pre-planned glory.

I could continue using overly delicious analogies, but need to speed things along, don't I? It has been so long since I last updated that you don't really need to hear every detail! So I kind of shut down, similar to that episode of _Magnezone: The Terminator_ where Magnezone got shut down… my god, that was a terrible comparison, but you get what I mean. Sandy and the other friend dragged me around Celadon like a zombie, and we met some of the people who run Game Freak, that company that makes the Pokemon simulation games. The guy we met, Morimoto, seemed a bit odd, but he allowed me to use his battlefield to get some training done. Again, I did not really think things through, but I wanted to fight, I wanted to know I was still capable before I got controlled. If I had decided not to battle then, things may have turned out differently, but my desperation to prove myself got the better of me, as if the Athlews would let me go free after I defeated a friend I had battle plenty of times in training.

I faced Sandy in a double battle, and things quickly went wrong.

I have mentioned my struggles with controlling and training Darwin in the past. He was an issue, but he had been good mostly through all the training I did prior to coming to Celadon. I had a feeling he was improving, but that was just what I was telling myself so I felt better: I knew that he was uncontrollable, that he was endangering me, my team and those around us. But still, I chose to use him in battle, both at the gym and at Game Freak. He nearly killed Alexis' Meganium in his rage at losing, using a shard of glass as a weapon, and then attempted to destroy Sandy's Butterfree in such a way that Paige created a powerful Twister that shattered a window in her attempt to stop him, sending our Pokemon flying. We found them safely, and I had no idea what to do about Darwin, but I made up my mind quickly when he struck me. One of the first things they taught us at school about dealing with Pokemon was that if a Pokemon ever purposefully struck the trainer, the Pokemon should be released immediately or taken to a Pokemon Center or Professor to deal with. I had always thought this sensible, and these instincts came out as my head felt like it had been cleaved in two, and I knew in a second that Darwin could not remain on my team. He had tried to kill two Pokemon in battle and had attacked his trainer, on top of all his disobeying and previous incidents. I sent him away, all the while wondering if it had been my fault. Should I have focussed more on training him, controlling him, getting him to see what he was doing was wrong? Hitting me might have knocked some sense into him, but I banished him, and never got to see if Darwin had finally learnt his lesson.

I shut down again, and I felt as though the weight of the world was crushing me. I had spent so long been attacked by robots and Gideon that my journey had lost its true purpose, and instead of focussing on battling and gyms, I was constantly trying to answer all these questions that have dogged me all this time. So I had a sort of epiphany while sitting on the garden roof of Athlew Mansion, watching as a storm raged around me: I still have time for all of these things to play out. Gideon has not acted for two weeks even though he has the book he wanted, so that means he needs something else. I have a chance to forget about Gideon, leave the robots in the past, let Indigo Dreams carry on destroying the intelligence of the general public, and I have the opportunity to truly be myself again and set out to achieve the goals I set out to.

As you can tell from my blog title, I have done exactly that. I faced Alexis again, and I brought her gym crashing down around. I set fire to her field and Paige, Frances and Nadia brought _her _Pokemon down one by one. Nadia delivered the final blow and evolved into a Nidorina as a result. I showed the Athlews what I was capable of, and though I left them behind at the gym with a concussion and a few shocked looks, I am sure I made the impression I set out to make: mess with me, and your going to get burnt *snaps fingers like a character off _Gossip Gardevoir_* (I doubt I will be allowed back into the Athlew Mansion after this, which is a shame as I was just starting to like being able to roam around their unguarded treasure vaults and rooms filled with priceless artworks…)

But after such a long gap since my last gym win in Vermilion, I have faced so many losses. The destruction of Vermilion, which is only just starting to be properly cleared up and get back on its feet, the Power Plant, the bar, Lavender Town, the second tunnel collapse. It is like I am permanently stuck in some video montage of badly cam-corded building explosions and car crashes. To finally enjoy victory once more, to be able to prove myself, to be able to get a clear head, it is such a magical feeling, and I can only hope this sort of euphoria lingers.

Sandy, Paige, Frances, Nadia and I are currently celebrating by ourselves at the Pokemon Center (some older trainer offered us some wine, but after the way Sandy got at that bar, we declined. I still have no idea why how she got drunk off that drink, but that is a question for another rambling blog.) My journey is not over yet, with Saffron City nearby and an easy route to Fuchsia City open to us, but tonight, I am done with making decisions. I have had to make too many lately, and they never turn out very well. I refused the advice of the shadowed man and that nearly caused Nadia to be crushed, though I am still not sure how she survived either. I set Darwin free, and already I am feeling guilty about it. I led Sandy and our Pokemon down a dangerous path for too long, and it nearly cost us our lives. I have chosen the path I want to go down, and tonight, I will celebrate that I have completed half my steps, and pray to Arceus that I have chosen the right path.

XOXO,

Alaska.

**Interlude next, then our new arc will begin! Just to point out, I am not a fan of Gossip Girl, but I saw it being mentioned that it was the finale while I was writing this and got inspired to include some blog themed puns :P**


	73. Interlude 10: Battered, Broken, Beating

**Interlude Ten: Battered, Broken and Beating**

"I do not care if that girl turns out to be the messiah that will lead us to victory! If I ever see that black haired bitch again, I will personally kick her in the face!"

Night had fallen in Celadon City, and darkness had crept into the Celadon Gym. Workers from a construction company part owned by the Athlews had come and cleared away most of the glass from the shattered wall and had tried to cover it up, but the dents in the structure made any sort of flimsy cardboard covering ineffective. They would return in the morning, but for now, Daisy, Alexis, Jericho, Evelyn and Morimoto stood in the middle of the burnt, ash strewn battle field, with charred wood and shattered glass surrounding them, barely any lights still working, and feeling the chill of the suddenly opened up building.

"Look at this place!" Evelyn shrieked, her voice echoing inside the silent gym. She was red in the face, fuming with undisguised anger, and everyone was making sure they were well away from her as the Athlew matriarch marched around the field, crunching ash with her high heels. "This place looks abandoned, or something a poor person might work in! What gives that girl any right to destroy this beautiful building, a beautiful building that I invested a couple of million in to help build, I might add!"

"Evelyn, it is not as though the damage is permanent," Alexis said, putting her words carefully so she would not be attacked next. "All gyms have sufficient funds accumulated from battle losses to repair the facilities post battles. She broke half our glass last week and it only took a few hours to replace everything! We might even get the chance to do some remodelling…"

"THAT IS NOT THE POINT!" Evelyn screeched, and Alexis jumped, having drifted off into dreams of renovations. "The International Police have very specific plans for that girl! I let Alaska into my home, gave her food and shelter, and made a perfectly reasonable offer to protect her from this fight she has gone and bloody well put herself in the middle of. And how does she react? She sets fire to your field, smashes your walls, and throws some sort of concrete disguised as brownies at one of her hosts!"

"I think they are just normal brownies," Daisy mumbled sheepishly, earning her furious glares from both of the Athlews in the room, Jericho with a large red mark on his forehead.

"The point is not money or what sort of projectile she used," Evelyn hissed. "The point is that this Alaska girl is a dangerous individual who cannot be controlled, yet the wizened scientists of our once great nation are sticking to their mantra of making children fight their battles for them. Look what happened with our current champion and Team Rocket, the damage they caused across the region! Jericho nearly died when he fought that Dragonite for them! The International Police know that Alaska is not the fit person to stop Gideon, and they were right in thinking she should be locked up and stopped from causing any more harm. LOOK AT THIS PLACE!" Evelyn cried, and she angrily smashed an already broken shard with the tip of her high heel, gesticulating furiously at the damage that was evident around them. There was a timid cough from behind, and everyone turned as Morimoto stepped forwards. The Game Freak executive had been standing in the shadows where the stands had stood, listening to everything Evelyn had said, and now moved forwards, appearing deep in thought. Morimoto had insisted on coming to the gym match today, having wanted to see Alaska in battle, and it was quite clear to Daisy, who knew the developer well, that he had been looking to analyse the trainer everyone was talking about.

"This Alaska… she is very intriguing, you must admit," he said, walking slowly towards the rest of them. "I heard about her a few weeks ago from an employee that showed me her blog, and she has done some very amazing things in such a short space of time. It is astounding to see someone of her age escape death so many times."

"Have you followed the path of destruction though?" Evelyn snapped. "The Power Plant, Mt Moon, Pewter Museum, everywhere she goes, something gets damaged, largely in quite catastrophic ways!"

"The results of war, they are unavoidable," Morimoto said. "When I came to this world during the Great War, there was so much destruction across your regions that it seemed impossible you would ever recover. But each piece of rubble, every scar on the earth, they were all the results of people fighting for good, for the safety of this place, and after a few years, all of these wounds were covered over. Those things Alaska destroyed, like this gym, they can all be repaired. She is simply a warrior fighting a great foe, and what she has done has been nowhere as damaging as what Gideon did to Chrono Island."

"I am not comparing the two and what they have done!" Evelyn said with acid in every word. "I am merely saying that the girl is not a suitable person to fight him. The International Police have much more qualified, more level headed people that can stop Gideon, rather then some aggressive school girl that is involved in something a lot bigger than herself! Alaska is only going to destroy Kanto is she is allowed to go free, and she will kill herself in the process. And by the time she is dead, there will be no one else to stop Gideon. _That_ is why the International Police want to keep her out of this war: there is too much being placed upon her to succeed, and should Alaska fail, than Gideon will be able to carry out some plan unlike anything we have ever seen, and Oak, Bill, all of them have no Plan B!" Evelyn's last few words echoed, carrying the effect of her statement. Jericho and Alexis exchanged nervous looks, and Daisy suddenly felt guilty, as if she should have done more to stop her. Morimoto paused and looked upwards, staring at the stars they could see through the shattered window, blinking dimly through the light pollution the city produced. Evelyn waited impatiently for him to talk, but Morimoto moved about to another spot and stared up through a different pane, as if this new spot would give him the answers he was searching for.

"Her uncontrollability and explosive personality makes her our greatest asset," the developer said at last, staring dramatically back down at Evelyn, now standing on the opposite side of the scorched field from her, the other three standing like Pokemon between them. "Gideon is a scientist, his life revolves around numbers and statistics. He can work out all of our strategies before we have even thought of them, because he knows how everyone thinks. Gideon could have spent years watching Red's battles for all we know, working out how he battles and how he uses his Pokemon, which makes our own Champion useless if the enemy knows exactly what command he will give in five moves time.

"But with Alaska, she is unpredictable. She makes up her mind three seconds after she gives a command, and changes it again before she gives the next one. Alaska has a gun that Bill gave her that she has barely used, she fights with a tray of rock hard brownies, she banished her Primeape a week ago and regrets doing so. If Gideon and Alaska ever faced each other, Gideon would find himself in unexplored territories: he would expect Alaska to use her trusted Pidgeotto, and instead find himself being strangled by Sandy's Onix while Parasect shatters his toes. We need a mind as rebellious and unrelenting as Alaska's to defeat one as brilliant and well thought out as Gideon's."

"What about her destructive natu –"

"As I said, a necessary part of any war, but in this case, Alaska feels the need to cause this damage to prove her skills and make a point," Morimoto interrupted, making Evelyn flare. "She has been caged away in Viridian all her life like that Pidgeotto of hers, but this journey has been her chance to finally experience freedom. I can tell from her blogs that Alaska refuses to let anyone push her around after the life she has led, and with the people she is up against that are trying to tell her what to do, she must make very big statements in order to make herself heard above them. The more we try and push her, the more Alaska will try and prove herself, and the more damage she will leave behind." He smiled at Evelyn at this, and the elderly women scoffed and turned away, looking appalled.

"That is ridiculous!" Jericho scoffed, stepping forward to replace his grandmother. "She is nearly the same age as me; how can she be mature enough to face Gideon, or strong enough to keep surviving these attacks?"

"Not all thirteen year olds are like you," Alexis said mockingly, but Morimoto held up a hand and nodded at the flame haired boy.

"That is a fair point. Alaska has been through more than you, even before all of this started," he explained. "I believe her family is barely surviving. Her siblings go to Arcethian due to a scholarship, but Alaska has lived solely in Viridian, going to a lower class school where she was constantly bullied and mocked. Her father recently lost his job and has become reclusive, and her house has fallen into disrepair. Alaska is already tough, and I believe from her latest blog post that she is planning to focus solely on her gym journey. This will give her the time to grow and become stronger, and when the time comes to fight Gideon and end this once and for all, she will be ready, and it is time that we accept her role in all of this and leave her to fulfil her duties."

Silence suddenly fell. Evelyn stared furiously at Morimoto, trying desperately to continue the argument, wanting to prove she was right as she always did. However, Morimoto had made too good of a point, and Evelyn could tell that, for once, she had been bested. She looked around at her grandson, at Alexis and Daisy, wondering if any of them had something to add, but they were staring sheepishly at their feet, no words coming to mind as they dwelled over what Morimoto had said.

"I believe Evelyn, it is time we declared Mr Morimoto the winner of the debate," a sixth voice said suddenly, and Alexis and Jericho both cried out. Everyone turned towards the shattered north wall, where they could see the city lights in the background, the empty panes letting in the roar of man made transport and the excitement of people spending the night on the town. They could see no sixth figure, but suddenly someone side stepped out from the darkness, materializing as quickly as if he (as the voice had clearly been male) had teleported. The group was confused, wondering who this mysterious person was that had sidled into their lives, but the figure moved closer towards them, stepping into the feeble light coming from the few working bulbs scattered throughout the gym, and recognition and relief spread across the tense group.

"Trevor!" Daisy cried, and rushed forwards, tears streaming down her face before she had even moved, not caring where she was or who was there. Trevor moved forwards with a slight limp in his left leg, with scars down his face and neck, which was covered with rough stubble. His dark clothes were dirty and still covered with dust, despite the tunnel collapse occurring over a week ago, making him appear a ghost that had emerged from the rubble.

"Hello Daisy," Trevor said as Daisy nearly tackled him, pulling him into a hug. "Be careful, I am still tender from the tunnel collapse."

"Well, I am still annoyed you didn't give me any warning about this mission of yours!" Daisy huffed, cuffing him lightly on the shoulder as she continued to cry. "For twenty four hours, I thought you were… dead… NEVER do that to me again! You should have called me sooner, or given me some sort of warning of what you were going to do!"

"I am sorry, but you know I had to do it," Trevor said, wiping away the tears with one of his fingers. He turned to look at the others standing before them, all looking confused. "My bosses wanted me to do some investigating into Alaska's life. Mostly into her past, but a bit into her future. I had to track someone rather special down, but I did not want Alaska to become suspicious as to where I was. I had made plans to disappear during Celadon, giving Daisy proper warning, but the tunnel collapse was the perfect opportunity for me to disappear." They had all known Trevor had faked his possible death or disappearance, but none of them knew what he had gone to do, or why he had chosen now to return. Trevor limped closer to them, with Daisy clinging to his shoulders, still feeling emotional. He pulled a slim folder out from his jacket, and the spy's face suddenly became grim.

"The International Police wanted to protect Alaska from herself," Trevor explained. "As has been noted, she is unpredictable and dangerous, acting out in such a way to prevent us from controlling her. It has worked this time, as my superiors believe we must now let her go her own way and make her own decisions, though she will be closely monitored at all times by a back up crew. Daisy, they want you to continue your role as a friend to her, especially while she remains in Celadon." Daisy nodded, wiping her tears away.

"What has made them change their minds?" Alexis asked. "They seemed so intent on preventing her from continuing with her journey a week ago. Did the destruction of my gym do it for them?" Trevor shook his head, and he passed the folder across. Evelyn angrily snatched it, glaring at Trevor as if he had turned against her, and opened it up so everyone could see.

"There is only a photo," Jericho said, "and we can barely see it in this light." Trevor whipped a torch out from another pocket and flashed it across the printed out photograph. It was grainy, with an intense flash that showed in the corners of the image. However, the central image was quite visible: it was some sort of etching on a rock face, though it took a few moments for everyone to make out the figure in the centre.

"It looks like someone standing on a Pokemon," Daisy said through her watery eyes, staring intently at the biggest part of the rock drawing. "Possibly a Flying type, based on the curves, maybe a –"

"Pidgeot," Morimoto said gloomily, and there was a collective gasp. Beneath the Pidgeot, there was what appeared to be a giant crack, but they all knew it was one that had been drawn rather than a crack in the wall. Surrounding this crack was a series of figures, and while it was impossible to distinguish them, it was quite clear that this was some sort of battle.

"Did you track her down?" Morimoto asked, working out who Trevor had gone to find, and the spy gave a grim nod.

"Charlotte confirmed my suspicions," he said, staring grimly down at the photo he had taken before looking up at a shocked Evelyn. "Alaska must be there when the final part of this battle takes place, for it was decided two thousand years ago. The only thing we don't know is who exactly she will be fighting, or if she is going to win." A chilled silence filled the gym, and everyone exchanged looks as the sounds of city nightlife crept in through the broken window panes, damage caused by the only person that could save them from the unknown. 

* * *

High above the clouds, with a cold wind trying to push him aside, Latios floated… watching, waiting, wondering.

The Eon Pokemon stared down at Celadon City, examining the drastic changes that had occurred during his incapacitation, all the while feeling weary. His energy was slowly coming back to him, but after spending years trapped inside a stone, he was nowhere near his full capabilities. Latios had drained a lot of his built-up energy protecting Alaska during the tunnel collapse from more severe injuries, including forcing Nadia to turn back into her energy form and inside her PokeBall. If he did not rest properly, then he would be of no use to Alaska when the time came for him to fight.

_Even though she seems to not want me… _Latios thought angrily. He had used a lot of his mental strength to speak to Alaska during her comatose state, trying to warn her of what was to come, but it seemed he had been ignored once again. Latios was capable of brief psychic flashes that allowed him to see a short distance into the future, and he knew what was to come for Alaska. It was his job to look out for her, he had been bound to her, but Alaska seemed oblivious to his help.

_She must make her own decisions, even if they are wrong, I am simply a guide, _Latios thought, shutting his eyes for a moment, seeing flashes of screaming faces, a shaking stadium and two figures flying towards one another. He opened his eyes again and found himself drained again, simply from those few moments spent in the future. Latios looked down and was startled to see he had dropped several metres, startling a group of migrating Swellow that scattered in their shock.

_I must help Alaska, but I cannot like this, _the Dragon thought, and he stared to the east, where he could make out a distant river turned inky black by night,. Latios knew his sister lay in this direction, further east than Viridian City, meaning he must go back to Johto in order to find her. Latios had meant to go sooner, have searched for her presence after learning who held her, but Alaska's needs had delayed him. However, the journey would be long and tiresome, and with his energy already fading, Latios would need the rest of his strength to track down his other half and getting the healing powers he required.

_Good luck Alaska, I shall return as soon as possible, _Latios thought as he tucked his legs in, now resembling a white and blue torpedo. _I simply hope you do not need me while I am gone, _he added as a depressing after thought, and with a sudden white flash, Latios propelled himself through the night sky, onwards to the next part of his journey. 

* * *

Buzz watched silently from a metal platform, staring down into a deep concrete pit below. The wide, usually empty space could be transformed into whatever he desired with a flick of a switch, with a number of concealed doors opening to allow weapons or robotics to be brought in for display, for recruits to march in, for prisoners to be executed in the most public way. The executive always enjoyed these moments, but tonight a display of trainees skill had been put on for him.

A series of platforms were set up, and two teams were in the middle of combat, one in black and one in blue. The goal was to remove several red tags from each person on the opposing team, the tags representing arteries that could led to death if even slightly penetrated. No one was allowed to touch the ground, and all trainees had to leap from platform to platform, fighting with only their bodies and blunt bits of plastic, trying their best to prove themselves to the men above.

Buzz did not design these exercises, that job belonged to the other person standing on the platform. He was a towering man, with muscles that rivalled many Machamp, shown off through a tight fitting black outfit similar to what the trainees wore that made the muscles appear bulbous. The intimidating looking man was known only as Scar, largely as his face was a collection of various war wounds earned from a secret past of fighting and murdering across the regions. The most prominent scars were the severe burns that covered his entire scalp, having burnt of all his hair, and a permanently raw-looking red wound that went across his left eyelid, over his nose, pass the lips and then curved back around the right ear and back across his head, coming full circle. Scar had never told Buzz how he had gotten that injury or any of the others, and rarely said a word unless answering a question about training or giving out commands, but none of this mattered to Buzz. He had plenty of people that fawned over him for conversation should he so desire it: Scar had one purpose, and Buzz did not wish to deal with the silent, hideous, muscled man unless it was necessary.

"Will you have a team ready within the next few days?" Buzz asked, watching one fight in particular, where a member of the blue team was smashing the head of his opponent against the concrete walls in order to make him drop his weapon.

"These men are ready, I will have the snipers prepared by tomorrow," Scar replied, his voice so deep it sounded as if it came from the depths of his stomach. "You did not have good men to work with, but they shall do now."

"Excellent," Buzz said tensely, ignoring the insult. He smiled as the fight he was watching ended, with the black team member falling from the platform, which Buzz only then realised was about five metres above the ground. The thud echoed inside the room, but the fighters ignored it, continuing their brutal battle to be the best, as they all knew what would happen should they fail.

"I will come again tomorrow, it is late now," Buzz said, and waited for some sort of farewell, but Scar remained silent, staring angrily down at his trainees. Buzz silently stepped away, a bit unnerved by the look on his trainer's face, but knew better than to point it out, and knew it was necessary to have him whether he liked him or not. He would not make the same mistake that Giovanni, Cyrus, Maxie and Archie had made before him. In order to fight a true war, you needed to have trained soldiers, not random kids pulled off the streets looking for a bit of fun.

When Buzz arrived in Celadon City in two days time, he was going to face Alaska with warriors on his team. And finally, victory would be his.

* * *

**That was the final 8ES for 2012! Thank you to everyone that has enjoyed the series over the year and left feedback via reviews. I hoped to have made it further by this point, so hopefully at this time next year, we will be a LOT closer to the conclusion of Alaska's story and her fight that has been 2,000 years in the making! There are some big changes coming up, so look out for those when the series returns after I finally do my Christmas specials. **


	74. Chapter 53: Take a Gamble

**So... it has been a while! I apologise for the super long delay: my Christmas specials ended up consuming most of my time along with dealing with personal stuff, and then when I finally began writing this chapter, it turned out to be the longest yet! But it is time to get back to Kanto and finish the last four steps of Alaska's plot, as well as surviving everything else along the way! This chapter will serve up the main bout of drama for this arc as the rest will largely be a lot of discussions and focus on the Pokemon side of things rather than the extra plots. Hope you enjoy the new chapter and it serves up enough drama to make up from the delay!**

**Chapter Fifty Three: Take a Gamble**

"They don't want you there."

"I have never been one to care about what people think."

"Evelyn is on the war path, she is convinced you've stolen something or damaged something before you left. She is still searching, and if she doesn't find anything conclusive, you can bet she will try and frame you regardless."

"Oh no, a crabby old women with too much time on her wrinkled claws in-between her parties! What a horrid life she must lead, I almost pity her."

"Alaska, these are people you cannot mess –"

"French toast?"

"Here!" Sandy said excitedly, and she quickly grabbed the plate from the waiter's hands. Daisy fell silent, not wishing to continue her argument with a stranger looming over them, and Alaska shot her a triumphant, cocky smile.

"Burger and fries?"

"That's a-me," Alaska said, and flashed a pearly grin at the handsome waiter as he laid down her plate. Daisy sort of grunted at him as her salad and mushroom soup was placed down, and the waiter looked perturbed as he backed away.

"Careful Daisy, he might spit in your next iced tea if you keep that steely look up," Alaska said with a cheeky grin and she stuffed several fries into her mouth at once, and earned her another frosty look from Daisy.

"Please Alaska, this place is far too fancy for waiters to spit in your drinks," Sandy scoffed. "I mean, look at this syrup, it looks someone poured gold on my plate! Waiters only spit in your drinks in restaurants where there aren't personal hand washers listening to you pee in the bathroom." Alaska laughed, flecks of food flying from her mouth, and nearby diners stared in shock at this uncivilised behaviour. The 'ABC' restaurant was a popular new eatery in the middle of Celadon City, encompassing a tri-theme to suit its name through triangular furniture, artwork, a three colour scheme of black, white and red and even three sided doors that seemed a little over the top.

"Control yourself Alaska!" Daisy hissed, going red with embarrassment. "I feel like a mother taking her two naughty children out for lunch! I only agreed to shout you a meal as it's your last day here and I thought you'd behave."

"Hit the nail on the head there Daisy!" Alaska replied, swallowing her chips and taking a huge bite from her burger. The food was rich and tasted divine, and Alaska thought it would be best to simply enjoy your meal than cause more worry for Daisy, but there were still some points she had to straighten out. "It is my last day in this godforsaken, over glittered, over priced city, and I intend to make it enjoyable in my own personal way!"

"So you're going to find some other local treasure to destroy?" Daisy said icily, and Sandy gasped overdramatically. Alaska merely smiled and paused for a moment to chew, thinking over her words.

"I just want to give Jericho and his dear, darling, lovely grandmother my parting wishes," she explained after a few moments. "And then, if I get the chance, I am going to make sure they get a piece of my mind over how I have been treated." Daisy groaned and clutched her head in annoyance.

"For the last time Alaska, they thought they would be protecting you from Gideon!"

"If they wanted to protect me, why did they kick me out of their mansion then, or get rid of all the Eevee's that Sandy enjoyed playing with?" Alaska felt bad bringing this point up, and Sandy lowered her cutlery sadly, staring down at her meal as if her meal had just turned into an Eevee.

"You are lucky they didn't throw you in the river!" Daisy hissed. "You destroyed the Celadon Gym and knocked Jericho out –"

"- with a piece of brownie, mind you."

"That is beside the point! Kicking you out was the least of all of the things they could do, and it is a miracle they have not done anything else! Evelyn is on the bloody war path!" Daisy glared angrily at Alaska for a second before taking Sandy's right hand and putting on a more sympathetic face. "I am sure they did not send the Eevee away as a way of hurting you. I happen to know for a fact that they have an important plan for them in all of this, so I hope you know they are doing some good for us all." Sandy smiled at this and brushed her tears away, but she did not read between the lines as Alaska did. There was something very odd about that statement, and Daisy cast Alaska a look as if signalling for her to pick up on it. Alaska went back to her meal and dwelled the words over, as it was not the first time this had happened. Daisy had been oddly cryptic and strange ever since Alaska had won against Alexis four days ago: she kept falling quiet or leaving the room whenever Sandy made reference to Gideon or the robots, and other times she would simply look at Alaska with a mixture of worry and fear.

_No, stop thinking about stuff like that, _Alaska told herself as she stuffed her burger into her face, sending sauce down her front. _We are focussing on gym battles from now on. That's why we are going to Fuchsia City, to keep battling, to win more badges – after all of that is done, than it is Gideon's turn. _

"Sandy, I have already taken your advice and let you tell me where to go next for my gym battle," Alaska explained after a few minutes of silence, "but I can handle Jericho and Evelyn. I promise I won't damage anything, I just want to give them some words before moving on, alright?" Daisy looked annoyed and conflicted, but she sighed and nodded, knowing it was the best she would get. "Excellent, let's enjoy this meal and the wonderful atmosphere of ABC, which is still a stupid name by the way. I mean, how uncreative do you have to be to just name something with letters anyway? There are a million options of actual words you could have used, and they settled for letters!"

"Maybe it means something?" Sandy suggested.

"I am sure they'll make it mean something…," Alaska muttered darkly. A waiter suddenly reappeared, which struck them as odd as it was very obvious none of them had finished their meals yet, but then they saw he was holding a fine red velvet bag that went well with his uniform.

"Um… excuse me madams, but is one of you an Alaska Avocado?" He asked, perplexed.

"Acevedo," Alaska said darkly as she raised her hand, and the waiter looked even more nervous as he dropped the bag on the table.

"Someone at the bar left this for you," he explained fearfully. "I did not see his face as it was hidden by a large hat, and he did not leave a name, but he also asked for me to say he wished you were well," the waiter added, but turned to Daisy as he said this. Daisy was stunned, and she glanced around as if hoping to catch a glimpse of this man, but there was no sign of anyone. Alaska quickly opened the bag up, intrigued and cautious to see what was inside.

"They're evolutionary stones!" Sandy gasped, picking up a handful. Alaska had heard of them but had never actually seen one up close: they looked like rare gems that had been pulled out of the earth, glittering in the light from the chandelier above. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, black... they were all beautiful to look at, and Alaska grabbed a handful herself, feeling the power and energy radiating inside.

"There is about three of each!" She said in shock, and she joined Daisy in looking around for her benefactor. There were so many possibilities of who this could be, or it could be someone new entirely. Yet no one familiar appeared to be in the restaurant, and nearly everyone was staring back at them so they got a look at all the other patrons, the majority business people or elderly women, one table seating two black haired, scowling men that looked out of place, but no one waving 'hello' and demanding gratitude.

"This is bizarre…," Alaska mumbled as she dropped the stones back in the bag, and Daisy settled back in her seat but remained confused.

"Well, it is rather obvious what this means Alaska," Sandy said cheerfully as she back to her toast, and Alaska raised a curious eyebrow. "Some one really wants you to complete the rest of your steps!"

"Yes, but whom?" 

* * *

While Alaska hated every moment she had spent in Celadon, she could not deny that there was some beauty to this metropolitan city amongst all the glass and steel buildings and plastic people.

The trio walked their lunch off on their way to the casino alongside the river that cut through the heart of the city. The water looked good enough to swim in, and indeed some small children were jumping off the edge of the banks into the reflective waters below. Daisy explained about how there were a lot of natural chemicals put in to prevent Grimer and Muk from spoiling the view, but the Pokemon were still allowed to leave in the sewers which they had to make smell worse in order to please the Poison types.

_So it's not just the Athlews that have poison under the surface, _Alaska thought cattily, but did not want to spoil the pleasantness of their walk by speaking it. It was a relaxing walk, with a light breeze and a warm sun a nice change from the rare storm, and Alaska was glad to be doing something that did not involve training for battles or recovering from injuries. She had had enough stress over the last few weeks from Sandy's gunshot wound to her gym loss, and Alaska was looking forward to things getting back to normal.

They all released their Pokemon in order for them to enjoy the day as well. Paige went flying around with Bellsprout clinging fearfully onto her for dear life, while Butterfree flew Pichu around, though a lot softer. Frances and Nadia played some sort of tag game with each other, though the newly evolved Nidorina was not holding her strength back. Daisy let her Dewgong into the river, and it shot up and down the clear channel like a sparkling white torpedo, occasionally leaping out and firing glittering ice for the amusement of the Pokemon and the small children. Alaska and Daisy put their argument behind and bonded over their Pokemon, and everyone felt good as they approached the casino, with even the mysterious evolutionary stones disappearing to the back of their minds. Occasionally, Alaska felt like someone was watching her, and she would glance about, looking for the guilty culprit, but with no one else appeared to be about, she put it down to the wind and her old suspicions creeping under her skin.

The Celadon Casino had only recently been purchased by the Athlew family, and it had been renovated following the years it had spent as a front for the villainous Team Rocket under the name Game Corner. The three storey building was on the river side and had an accompanying fifteen storey hotel to the side, both buildings appearing to be painted a mix of gold and white, like marble rising out from the earth and making it stand out against the steel and glass. There was a giant fountain out front that lit up with LED lights at night, and was constantly on a twenty minute show of dazzling water works. It was very easy to spot, and there was no doubting why it was the most popular hotel and casino in all of Kanto and Johto.

"Why are we meeting the Athlews here?" Sandy asked as they approached the casino, where a crowd was gathering near the fountain. "I am not really in the mood for a session on the slot machines."

"Don't worry, we won't be going inside," Alaska replied with a sly smile as their Pokemon began to gather back around. "I doubt we'd be allowed in anyway after I'm through with them," she added.

"There is a new restaurant and several extensions being opened up today, and as the Athlew family owns the casino, they are all going to attend the ceremony," Daisy explained as her Dewgong leapt back onto the pavement and sprayed them all with water. A number of limousines and fancy cars had already pulled up outside the hotel, and there was a small group of photographers up the staircase capturing every semi famous face that showed up. Alaska, Sandy, Daisy and their Pokemon approached the crowd that had gathered to one side of the fountain, trying to catch a glimpse of glitz and glamour through the dancing water at the spectacle.

"How are we supposed to get over there?" Sandy asked, and she pointed towards the burly looking security guards that lingered around the front entrance and the driveway leading to the front doors. "Security seems pretty tight. Is telling them off again really worth going to so much effort?"

"Of course," Alaska said with a smile, but it was not the only reason why she was doing this. Everyone around her except for Sandy had begun acting strangely since her gym win. There had been Daisy's obviousness, but a few other small things as well. They had tried getting back into Game Freak to see Morimoto, but they had been bared at the entrance for no reason, and the previous day, Alaska had spotted Jericho when they went shopping at the department store, and when he looked across and saw her, his eyes had widened in fear: not fear as in 'oh shit, there's the crazy brownie-throwing pyromaniac', it was something much more frightful than that. Alaska knew that after her victory none of them had left the gym until well into the night, and she had a feeling all these rejections and dodgy looks had something to do with their little meeting. And there was nothing like a bit of confrontation to bring that out.

"What exactly is your plan though?" Daisy asked, squeezing alongside Alaska and Sandy, their Pokemon gathering around. Alaska focussed on the cars pulling up, trying to find the one she had ridden in. The water display kept blocking the view, but Alaska spotted a shock of orange emerging from one limousine, and a smile crept onto her face.

"Ever since I decided which path I was going to go down, I decided to plan my actions out a bit more in advance," Alaska said with a wink at Daisy, and she whistled for Paige to soar down. "You know what to do!"

"Pidge," she said with a smile, and she let Bellsprout get off before turning around. Paige soared up into the sky, wings stretched wide, riding on the breeze flowing through the city. The crowd looked up towards her, impressed and amazed, though Alaska was pleased to note none of the security guards were interested in a random Pokemon. Then, without any warning, Paige dropped down like a falling stone, tucking her wings up against her body and falling down towards the dancing fountain. The crowd followed her descending, some of them muttered worriedly to one another, and Paige struck the water with a simple splash, blending in with the end of the current display rotation.

"What is she going to do now?" Sandy asked.

"I think we've been through enough adventures by now for you to take a wild guess," Alaska said with a wink and a smile. Sandy and Daisy exchanged concerned looks, and the crowd around them began to mumble in confusion.

"What are you doing Alaska?" Daisy asked nervously. Alaska ignored her and pulled Paige's PokeBall out, opening it up so she could talk into it. "Alaska, stop this, you can't do this, you promised! If it is information you want, I can arrange a meeting before we leave, don't do anything ras –"

"Twister," Alaska whispered into the PokeBall, and she began to move forwards. Nadia and Frances quickly followed as she pushed over the orange barrier that had been put up to separate the crowds from the casino. A security guard turned around, stunned by their act of defiance, and he made to move over.

But then Paige attacked.

A giant watery tornado erupted from the middle of the fountain, rising up like some great, purple glowing beast. The guard turned in shock, and even Alaska was impressed by the sheer power of the attack as Paige's Twister sucked up all the water. It appeared as though a hurricane had touched down in the middle of the fountain, and all the security guards and officials were scrambling to deal with the issue, completely ignoring Alaska as she advanced through the casino.

"Lovely place, isn't it?" She remarked to Frances and Nadia as they moved through the stampeding crowds. The casino really looked like a marble sculpture from up close, and everything about the place was so immaculate that it was hard to imagine it had once housed a criminal organisation. "Look at those hedges Frances, aren't they lovely?"

"Para Para."

"Oh yes, fair point, fair point," Alaska replied, and she continued to walk with complete in utter confidence, holding her head high and acting as though the blue shirt and jeans she had on today passed for high couture. She glanced back and saw Sandy, Daisy and the Pokemon were following as well, trying not to get wet from the upset fountain and the Twister that was nearly as high as the casino itself, the water shooting off at the top like an oversized sprinkler.

"Ooooh looky there, I can see Evelyn wearing a lovely gown," Alaska muttered to Nadia, and pointed across at her grey haired enemy as the Athlew matriarch stared at the water tornado in shock. "Make sure they don't get inside, alright?"

"Nido Nid!" Nadia said with an aggressive smile, and she quickly lumbered forwards. By the time Sandy and Daisy had caught up, the Nidorina had jumped onto a bush on the sides of the stairs and leapt through the columns, advancing towards the sliding glass doors like a small purple security guard. The Twister was beginning to die down as Alaska had only told Paige to do it for a few moments, and she knew that the time to strike had come: Evelyn and Jericho appeared bored and were turning away, leaving it to their employees to deal with the threat, advancing up the carpeted stairs.

"What the hell!" Jericho cried when he saw Nadia blocking his path and he stopped stunned, but Evelyn was sharper and she looked around in shock.

"That's the one from Alexis' gym! It's –," she paused, looking for the culprit, and saw Alaska emerging from the chaos. "HER!" Evelyn did not want to try dealing with a Nidorina and instead clip-clopped down the stairs in her purple high heels, making for their limo, the driver not moving as he watched the fading water tornado.

"Evelyn, stop, I just want to talk!" Alaska shouted.

"Bah! Talk? I doubt it, considering this fountain debacle has your name all over it!" Evelyn squawked, and pointed as the Twister finally stopped and the water crashed back down, sending waves spilling over the edge and soaking the crowd and the guards. The matriarch tried to open her door, but Alaska lunged forwards and slammed it shut, moving herself slyly between the grandmother and the limo. Evelyn looked both surprised and disgusted, and Alaska knew she would not have much more time before the guards attention came back in this direction. She noticed Jericho was sending two Pokemon out: his trusted Flareon and, more frightening, an aggressive looking Dragonite that flexed its muscle as it advanced towards her. Sandy led Frances, Butterfree and Bellsprout forwards as a kind of defence, winking back at Alaska as Nadia raced down to join them. Alaska felt more encouraged by the support, and knew she could make this quick before they were either kicked out or arrested.

"If you want to say something, hurry up and get it over with you horrible little girl!" Evelyn hissed, and Alaska noticed she had an uncomfortable look in her eyes, glancing back towards Daisy as if asking what to do.

"_That_ is what I am here to talk about!" Alaska snapped, pointing at the two of them. "You people are trying so hard not to tell me something that you are making it obvious you have something to hide. I have seen all your looks Daisy and read the signs, I know something is up! You had some long, big ol' meeting before I left your house the other day, and I want to know what went on there!"

"None of your damn business!" Evelyn said with a touch of acid. "I do not have to divulge my meetings to such a petty little girl such as you! I offered you a chance for salvation and you threw it back in my face, so I have nothing more to say!"

"That's a pity, because I have so many choice words to say to you!" Alaska snapped, and she took a deep breathe before beginning her rant, a number of choice insults that she had been brewing over for days coming to her lips.

"Alaska, you may want to hurry up," Sandy called out nervously. "There are some security guards coming towards us, and I don't think we can hold off a Dragonite!" Alaska glanced briefly at the suited guards rushing for them, going for the Pokeballs and other weapons of choice, and she knew there was only a moment left for her to say her words, to vent her feelings of frustration at being kicked out of the mansion so soon after her win, to the strange looks and riddles from Daisy, the nervous tension that Evelyn was harbouring. Alaska had to clear these thoughts before she left so she would have a clear mind and a peaceful journey on her way to Fuchsia.

Then the ground fell out from beneath her.

A deep bang echoed somewhere in the distance. The entire casino grounds fell silent as the driveway shook violently, causing them all to stumble. The Pokemon suddenly became distressed, with Pichu breaking out into tears and the rest stared down in confusion. Alaska was frightened, as she had a feeling the bang had came from beneath them as well, and she stepped towards Daisy, planning to ask if she knew what it was, but she walked forwards into nothing: the tarmac beneath them disappeared, cracking and falling within seconds, all happening too fast for any of them to process it. But as Alaska tilted forwards and fell towards darkness, she realized everyone else was falling as well, and many of them were screaming. The limos were coming down with them, and Alaska pushed away, pulling Evelyn tight out of instinct, trying to avoid the long black machines that could crush them easily, all the time wondering what they were falling towards.

It was a brief fall though, but not painless: after about five seconds of fast, fearful falling, Alaska smacked into the ground on her side, her left shoulder screaming out as the pain jolted throughout her body, and her head cracked painfully against a piece of road. There were louder thuds from nearby, one crunching down only a metre from Alaska's foot, and a thick layer of dust rose into the air.

"What the hell is going on?" Jericho shrieked from a far.

"Is everyone alright?" Sandy called.

"The road collapsed!" A security guard pointed out stupidly. "How has this happened?" Alaska rolled her eyes and got up, blood trickling down the side of her face, her left arm hanging almost uselessly from her side, but she was use to being in pain and having bizarre things happen to her, so she soldiered through and knew she had to find out where they were and what had happened. There was no unnatural light, only sunlight pouring in and illuminating the strip of fallen road, but everything around them was hidden by shadow.

"This… this is the old Team Rocket base!" Evelyn said below her, and Alaska turned and helped the elderly women stand up. "These are the secret floors they built beneath the casino, but these were destroyed in a fire years ago!"

"Everything seems to have been destroyed by something years ago," Alaska mumbled, and she stared around trying to make out charred walls or burnt, fallen beams, but everything was hidden by darkness, only the cracked floor visible and it was now covered with a broken jigsaw puzzle of a road. "Why did you leave a bunch of burnt out floors alone and not tidy them up?"

"It is on the agenda!" Evelyn snapped, brushing dust off her dress. "It took us forever to get this casino as the authorities were clinging on it, and when my husband finally gave them enough funds we had to go for a complete makeover in order to attract more customers in. We were originally going to fill this all in with concrete, but the local council wants to build a sewage tunnel through here, so we are in the process of getting that done and turning the upper floors into extra service tunnels. In fact, the council sent some more men down here yesterday to analyse it all." Alaska froze, a chill going down her spine. She glanced quickly back up at where they had fallen from, seeing members of the crowd and more guards staring curiously down into the hole. Alaska looked at the edges and was startled to see how straight the edges were around the hole, but it all made sense now.

"Evelyn, did these men ever come back up? Were there any of your staff watching what they were doing?" Evelyn was taken aback, bur her lined face quickly sunk, and she began to look around in horror.

"Everyone, we must find the nearest exit, quickly! This was not an accident!" She cried. There was a rush forwards as the drivers, security guards and guests who had been trapped in their cars rushed blindly forwards. Alaska quickly moved over to Sandy, helping her get up, and double checked all their Pokemon were fine. The burnt floor creaked dangerously beneath their feet, but it was the least of the worries at the moment.

"We need to go as well! Are you all fine to r –" she began, but Alaska paused as she heard a series of simultaneous clicking noises. She quickly turned and found everyone else had stopped moving as well, several people raising their hands above their heads. A group of people emerged out of the darkness, moving slowly and stealthily into the light, but it was obvious that none of them were invited to the opening.

A row of muscular figures advanced out of the shadows, their bodies encased in skin tight black body suits. All of their skin was covered, their faces encased in large helmets, hands gloved, thick leather boots on their feet. They looked like something out of a futuristic thriller, but Alaska was more focussed on what was in their hands: machine guns, as black and as big as the men were, held carefully in their arms and pointed towards the fallen crowd. Screams erupted from above as the spectators fled, but Alaska, Sandy and everyone else fell silent. The men stopped moving and simply pointed their weapons, fear spreading throughout the trapped crowd as they waited to see what would happen next

"Oh dear … I finally get to meet the great Alaska Acevedo, only to find that she has finally fallen silent. No witty comebacks, no explosive attempts to free yourself? It seems I have been greatly misinformed about your antics." Alaska turned around, looking for the deep voice that echoed all around in the empty shell of a floor, but the only figures she could see were the gunmen, waiting patiently for their orders. The voice laughed, and Alaska stared at Sandy and Daisy, wondering if any of them knew it, but they all seemed as oblivious and as frightened.

"I actually feel sorry for you going out like this," the voice continued, "trapped underground with people you hate, people that are lying to you, with no chance to pull any of your classic tricks. I would have liked to have seen one in person, watch you attempt to save yourself and everyone around you and then watch you fall as the onslaught of bullets destroy you. It truly is a shame, but it has to be done."

"Why, why do you need to kill me?" Alaska called out, thinking on her feet, trying to stall them. "Why don't you just kidnap me? I am sure if you want me dead, you'd have a lot more fun torturing me first!"

"True true, I would, but I really can't take the risk. You have become too much of a bother, Miss Acevedo, and we really need to eliminate you before you can do any more damage to my cause. But, if it makes you feel any better, seeing your dead body will really make my year. Now, kill all of them," he said, and without warning the gunmen suddenly raised their weapons. One of the guests screamed, and that was when the death began.

Alaska dived to the ground, pulling Sandy down with her, as a storm of bullets erupted overhead. There were more screams, some of them quickly cut off, and the sound of glass shattering as the limousines took most of the brunt. Dust and ash rose like a cloud again, and Alaska looked up to see the men were aiming at the ground, trying to find and hit her. However, Butterfree's eyes were glowing a beautiful pink, as she rearranged large chunks of road with her Psybeam, making a barrier that hid them from the gunmen's sight.

"FLARE!" Jericho's Flareon cried and Alaska turned briefly to see a burst of flames erupting in the distance, engulfing one gunman but the others simply turned and aimed for them. Fortunately, Jericho and Evelyn the Flareon were protected by the fallen road, while Dragonite had flown over to protect her namesake. Daisy moved towards them, pushing Frances, Nadia and Bellsprout forwards as she did so.

"Are you alright?" Alaska cried, and all of them nodded, though they were covered in dust and all, even Nadia, looked frightened. Alaska knew she could not put them through anymore of this and she and Sandy brought theirs back, leaving only Butterfree to protect them.

"Is Paige still outside?" Daisy asked, and Alaska nodded. She feared for her first Pokemon and oldest friend, and glanced to the sky, wondering if Paige knew they were in trouble, if she was planning to save them or had gone to get help. Until that arrived, they were all trapped, and people were falling like dominoes; guests and guards alike were sprawled across the ground, some obviously dead, bullet holes through their heads that no one could have survived. Others were just injured or unconscious and were being left alone by the gunmen now as they turned their attention towards finding Alaska.

_Everyone is dying for me, but I cannot hand my life over to this person… not without a fight, _Alaska thought. _Then my Pokemon, Sandy, Daisy, everyone will face the consequences as well… the only way to ensure they survive is to stop them…_

"Should I send Onix out?" Sandy whispered.

"No, the floor is fire damaged, it is a miracle we are still up here but his weight would destroy it," Alaska replied quickly, her mind moving fast to distract herself from fear. "But destroying the floor could work if done properly…" She reached into her bag and began rummaging through. "Here, take this, it will probably deflect a few bullets," Alaska said as she tossed the brownie tin out, and Sandy managed an uneasy smile. The gunfire continued as Alaska searched for the gun that Bill had given her all the way back in Cerulean. She never bothered with it, as it only served to cause distractions or slow opponents down, and there was never any time for that. However, Alaska had a feeling it would come in handy now, and she smiled as she pulled it out, a plan quickly forming in her head…

"PIDGEY!" A voice cried from above, and Alaska looked up to see Paige high in the sky above them, well out of the range of danger. Alaska was relieved, but realised there was little she could do for Paige or vice versa. She was tempted to tell her to go find help through the PokeBall but she noticed the Pidgeotto was flying in circles, pointing downwards with her glowing left wing, as if she was trying to get a message across. Alaska looked back up at the hole where they had fallen and saw how much of the driveway had collapsed, and than it clicked.

"That's it!" Alaska gasped. The idea formed within seconds: it was mad, it could kill them, but so did basically everything else Alaska ever did, so this was worth a shot. "Hey Dragonite!" She yelled, and Jericho's Dragon looked around, seeming both curious and angry at the same time. "Use your strongest attack and aim it at the flare!" Alaska shouted, and she pointed her gun upwards and pulled the trigger. The Dragonite did not have much time to comprehend it all, but instead looked up with blue flames dancing in his eyes, watching the glowing stick as it soared up towards the surface.

"Get ready to run!" Alaska yelled to Sandy, and poised herself…

"DRAGOOOOON!" Dragonite roared, and he unleashed giant blue cannonball of fire from his mouth. It soared up as the flare exploded against the road, and the gunfire stopped as the shooters stared upwards in surprise. The Outrage struck the surface and exploded, blasting them with heat and searing the colour blue into their eyes, tearing more of the road apart and sending stones flying, but the powerful attack achieved exactly what Paige and Alaska had wanted.

"The fountain!" Evelyn cried, and as the blue flames disappeared, everyone watched as a steady flow of water began to pour over the edge, landing on the destroyed limousines and seeping through cracks in the floor.

"AGAIN!" Alaska yelled, and Dragonite obeyed. The next Outrage was a much wetter explosion, more of the fountain being torn apart, and suddenly the entire thing was emptying upon them. "RUN!" Alaska yelled, and she sprinted forwards through the sudden waterfall. The gunfire started up again as she moved, and Alaska dived to the ground, feeling like an action hero as she rolled through the rubble, and fortunately was not hit. She leapt up and stood against a wall still black from smoke and fire and looked up as Sandy, Daisy and Butterfree followed, the force of the water pushing it over the limos and directly onto the floor, some of it seeping through but most beginning to batter the gunmen.

"IGNORE THE WATER, STAND YOUR GROUND!" The mysterious deep voice yelled, but the gunfire was becoming less frequent, and Alaska guessed that the rapid water was enough to put them off. She smiled to herself, and pointed her gun towards the row of limousines, glad to be able to put her first plan into action.

"This is risky, they could still survive this and just be angrier!" Jericho said when he appeared, his Flareon shaking her fur dry alongside.

"The ground is unstable due to the fire," Alaska replied as she eyed the limousine furtherest away, adjusting the device for the shot. "Having a road falling on it must be straining the beams and the floorboards, and the water should help make it all collapse, taking our gunmen friends with us, but if not…" Alaska fired the gun with ecstatic glee: a flare soared towards the limo, and Alaska quickly turned and fired towards the one at the opposite end. The gunfire had basically ceased now, and a cracking sound came from nearby as the water pounded against the unstable floor.

"Alaska, these people are here to kill you, you can't just stay here and wait for that to happen!" Daisy cried. They all jumped as the first limousine exploded, the flare having quickly set it alight and gotten into the fuel. Alaska turned and watched the flames sink through the floor, followed by the next nearest limo and two of the gunmen who had been fleeing the waters, the ground unable to hold itself up anymore.

"I am not leaving, I need to find out who the fuck this person is and protect the rest of you," Alaska replied as there was a second explosion, and she geared up to fire another one through the water.

"He only wants you Alaska! Whoever it is, they are here for you, and these people will be easier to control once you're out of the picture!" Daisy cried. "You and Sandy need to leave, now, and leave him to us!"

"How are we supposed to flee though?" Sandy asked. "Where is the nearest exit?"

"Nitelite will take you," Jericho said, and his Dragonite looked confused for a second but then gave an obedient nod. "He will take you far away from here where you can't be found!"

"But what about the rest of you?" Alaska asked, turning to them, her finger lessening off the trigger. "I can't just take a powerful Pokemon away from you, not when you may need him to fight back against these people!"

"Your plan is already working Alaska, and we can clean up those that are left behind, but you have to go now!" Daisy yelled hysterically. Alaska wanted to protest, knowing that she could not abandon them like this to fight a battle for her. Suddenly, someone kicked her in the shin, and Alaska cried out and turned to find a stubborn faced Evelyn glaring angrily at her.

"You are too special Alaska," she snapped, her voice breaking slightly. "We can survive without you here, but not without you at all! If you die now it will all be worthless!" She pushed Alaska towards the real Nitelite, where Sandy was already standing having brought Butterfree back. "Go Alaska, go so you can fight another day, and good luck you rude little tart!" Alaska was shocked and overwhelmed, a million questions now rushing through her mind, but shots were suddenly being fired again, and the torrent of water was starting to fade as the fountain emptied. She smiled at Daisy and the Athlews, stunned by the sudden interest in her, and turned and fired one last flare through the water. There was no arguing with them anymore, and it appeared that the attack was nearly over, and Alaska could see they had the determination to win this.

"I knew you'd come around to me someday Evelyn," Alaska said, and as Jericho slapped Nitelite on the back and ordered him to Fly, Evelyn Athlew smiled at Alaska for the first time since the breakfast a fortnight ago.

"DRAAAAG!" The Dragonite yelled, and he shot up through the water, soaking them both, as Daisy threw several PokeBalls onto the ground. Alaska's throat slid down into her stomach as they rose, her injured arm being crushed by Dragonite's tight grip, and Sandy screamed in fright, but it was a relief to get above the surface and find Paige, who was hovering in shock above them.

"Get here you wonderful bloody bird!" Alaska said, and snatched her Pidgeotto and pulled her towards her chest as Dragonite steadied himself and shot towards the west. Wind tugged at their clothes and faces, the soaking making their bodies freeze, but Alaska hung tightly onto Paige and reached out and grabbed Sandy's left hand, holding it firmly like a vice.

_I need to find out what they meant, _Alaska thought as they rocketed across Celadon City, the skyscrapers, river and cafes all disappearing in a general grey blur. _I will find out who just tried to kill me and why, and then I will get them back. They should have known I am a focussed person now, and that I'm the completely wrong person to mess with... _


	75. Chapter 54: Leaving the Earth Behind

**Another delay, more excuses... I apologise for the huge gap. Beginning uni has left me drained and lifeless and lacking for the inspiration to actually write, and this chapter required a lot of focus to execute it properly. Very different compared to the previous chapters, but hope you will all enjoy away, especially after waiting so long for it!**

**Chapter Fifty Four: Leaving the Earth Behind**

Alaska appreciated being rescued and flown away from danger, but she still would have preferred not being dropped onto a Snorlax.

Nitelite had flown her and Sandy out of Celadon and over Saffron City at lightning pace. The wind was bitterly cold at this altitude and speed, and Alaska could feel her blood freezing on her face as it dripped from the gash on her forehead. The wind created made her clothes constantly flutter and Sandy's hair got blown into her face, but Alaska could not complain as the Dragonite's thick orange arm was squeezing the breath out of her.

Sandy kept her eyes shut, her face screwed up in a way to show she was trying to disguise her discomfort with the entire procedure. Alaska, on the other hand, tried to view the scenes below, but everything was blurred and they did not stay over one area long enough to take it in. The skyscrapers of Celadon gave way to the surrounding forests and a small collection of houses dotted around Route 7 before the towers and high rise buildings of Saffron suddenly appeared. Alaska knew that there was a gym down there, waiting for her to arrive and claim her next badge, but it was clear that would not be happening today.

Nitelite had then turned right, avoiding going towards Lavender Town, and Alaska figured he was probably trying to take them as far away from Celadon as possible, somewhere that they would not be easily found. More forests appeared below, this time with a few earthen hills and miniature mountain ranges strewn in-between. Alaska could see the ocean spread out in the distance, glowing as the sun reflected off the surface, and knew that must be Vermilion. She would have liked to have seen how the city was recovering and potentially get some R and R at the local beaches, but Nitelite turned away from that, heading for the east of Kanto. Alaska had not ventured this way yet, but she could see more of the sea shimmering in the distance and figured this would not be a bad place to hide out.

During the flight, Alaska became nervous about her left arm. She had to let go of Sandy's hand due to the spreading pain, and she moved Bill's gun across so it was nuzzled between her body and Paige in order to lessen the pressure on the injury. Alaska dreaded the thought of having another prolonged injury, and she merely hoped that the pain would not last long.

"Dragon Nite Nite Drag," Nitelite said as they quickly moved over an expansive grassy field and came closer to the eastern ocean. It was the first time he had spoken for the entire trip and Alaska wondered what he was saying. She glanced at Paige but the Pidgeotto merely shrugged her wings, as clueless as she was. A moment later though, the Dragon Pokemon began to slow down, soaring downwards towards the earth as the world began to reform into its normal position. Alaska noticed the green roof of a gatehouse right beneath them, and she expected Nitelite to drop them there. However, he flew right over that, and Alaska saw a strip of grass leading towards the ocean, with something large covering most of that. Alaska thought it might be a boulder, but it was far too smooth, and they way the sun reflected off made it look like skin. The thing was mostly black but with a creamy white stomach that was the most engorged thing Alaska had ever seen….

It only clicked that this was a Snorlax when Alaska found herself hurtling towards it.

She had been taken aback to see a Snorlax in the wild that when she gasped in astonishment, it covered up the fact that Nitelite's crushing arm had moved off her stomach. But Alaska noticed that the world seemed to be tipping, and her stomach felt like it was lurching up towards her heart. Then Sandy began to scream, and Alaska put the pieces together and looked down as the wide stomach of Snorlax came up towards her.

"Pidge Pidge Pidge!" Paige cried and began to break free of Alaska's hold on her, knocking Bill's gun out of her grasp in the process, and tried to keep her trainer afloat using her claws. Alaska cried out as the talons grasped her arm and she was jerked upwards, but the sudden change was not enough to stop her falling and she crashed down on top of the Snorlax.

It was like landing on a very thick trampoline: the fat jiggled as Alaska thudded into it, absorbing the blow, though her entire body jolted from the impact. Despite her worry, it was a relatively soft landing compared to other places Nitelite could have thrown them. Alaska looked up over the engorged Pokemon's smooth stomach and saw that the Snorlax was fast asleep, and she felt the large body heaving up and down with every breathe.

"And I thought my father was a heavy sleeper," Alaska muttered, and she slid off Snorlax and onto the grass without the Pokemon even noticing. Sandy was lying on her back staring wide eyed at the clouds above, and it looked as though she had landed and then bounced off Snorlax's flab. Alaska resisted a smirk at the comedic image and extended her good arm to help her friend up.

"Thanks for the lift!" She shouted with a touch of bitterness up at Nitelite, but the Dragonite had not stayed to see if they were alright: an orange blur was soaring away into the distance, and would be back to Celadon within quarter of an hour. "That may be a fast Pokemon, but did he really need to throw us onto the sleeping fatty over here?"

"You do need to remember that that was the Dragonite that rampaged and destroyed the Magnet Train only a few years ago," Sandy said, looking unhurt from her fall. "Throwing us was probably his idea of being friendly."

"Oh, I can never keep up with what got blown up and when; it is all too repetitive and confusing!" Alaska tutted. "You'd think our creator or whoever is controlling us up above would write us all a story where maybe something didn't get blown up and we could just sit down and have a cup of tea every so often." Sandy nodded as she picked up her bag, and Alaska looked around, wondering where Bill's gun had gone.

"Otto!" Paige cried, and she fluttered forwards with the device clasped firmly in her claws. She appeared was unhurt, which was a huge relief for Alaska, and she pulled the Bird Pokemon into a hug before taking the gun off her.

"Shall we sit down for a minute and work out where exactly we are while I sort my mess of a bag out?" She asked, and Sandy nodded in agreement. They moved to a bench to the side of the grassy road they found themselves on, and Alaska moaned with relief as she sat down for the first time since lunch. The flow of blood from her head seemed to have stopped, but her arm still ached as she heaved the gun onto her lap and began to search through her bag for its case. Everything had been randomly shoved back in before they had flown off, and Alaska sighed as she was forced to move most things onto the bench between herself and Sandy: spare clothes, her pop up tent, a pillow case, her laptop, the tray of brownies, the knife following separately (making Alaska weary about how badly her landing could have gone), the new bag fill of evolutionary stones, assorted cans of Pokemon food and medical supplies, assorted cans of people food and the luminous pink band-aids that constituted her own medical kit.

"How do you fit everything in there?" Sandy asked, staring curiously at the mess piling up next to her.

"You carry a snake made of boulders the size of a skyscraper around on your waist," Alaska replied. "_That_ is something that needs questioning." She finally found the case and slipped the gun back inside, wondering when she would use it next. It had been a while since she felt forced to pull the weapon out, and Alaska hoped that it would be even longer. She had chosen to focus purely on gyms for the time being, and it was time that she stuck to this: no more destruction, no more fighting in ways that caused everything around her to blow up, just travelling and training and making her way to the next gym.

"So what actually happened back there?" Sandy asked as Alaska began to pack her bag away. "I did not recognise the voice or see who that guy was, but they really seem to hate you for some reason." Alaska sighed and nodded, irritated to find another mystery was being added to the list that constantly filled her thoughts.

"I am not sure why, but I have a feeling that this is the person who has been sending the robots after us," she replied. "From what it said, it sounded as though he had been following my journey. He mentioned something about being 'misinformed of my antics' and how I had become too much of a bother. That clearly wasn't Gideon, as he would not bother hiding in the shadows, it wasn't his voice and he only attacks on his own: this is someone with enough money and resources to set up a meticulous plan such as blowing up the driveway and bringing in an elite hit squad, and knows me well enough to guess I would end up at the casino opening." Alaska was quite unnerved by this last bit; it was bad enough having all the Kanto Elites reading her blog and following her that way, but if enemies she had never met were able to read her so well, had she fallen into such an obvious pattern that people could guess her actions before she even knew what she would do?

"I have always wondered about those robots," Sandy said, staring sadly down at her shoes. "I always got the feeling that the others were holding back information about them: Steven, Daisy, Trevor, I am certain all of them began to mention other occurrences in Kanto but would fall silent when they realised the mistake they were making." Alaska could recall the same instances and she became unsettled to think that the people supposedly helping her were keeping key facts that could impact on her safety. There was the chance they did know who was after her but thought hiding the information would help her, probably imagining that Alaska would go after them for revenge, which she most likely would have done a few weeks ago. What would she do now if she learnt the identity of the latest man hiding in the shadows, when she had a gym journey to focus upon: Alaska could not let herself and Sandy continue to be targeted, but she had made a decision… hadn't she?

"We escaped today, that is all that matters," Alaska said, forcing a smile as she shook away dark thoughts.

"I guess so," Sandy replied with a more natural beam. "I am sure that everyone else would have been able to fight their way out as well." Alaska had not even thought of them and instantly felt guilty, shocked at herself for forgetting about them: Evelyn and Jericho may have hated her, but they had stayed behind to fight off the gunmen so she could escape, and Daisy had been with them since Lavender Town. Alaska looked up to see if there was any sign of Nitelite but the Dragonite had disappeared, heading for Celadon to see if his trainer was still alive, and she hoped all three of them were. Evelyn's last words were beginning to circle around Alaska's head, but she pushed them asides for now, not wanting to get distracted by any theorizing for the time being.

"So where are we exactly?" Alaska asked, glancing around: between the gatehouse and the heaving Snorlax, there was a stretch of inch high grass and the typical rows of trees that seemed to have been copied and pasted from all the other routes of Kanto. There was nothing distinguishable about this area, the sort of place where you may have a picnic or walk through on your way to a city, but when Alaska turned to her left, she was greeted with a far greater sight.

The small grassy lane suddenly disappeared, turning from solid land into sparkling blue ocean without any warning signs. Alaska stared out at the shimmering, never ending stretch of blue that quietly crashed against the edge of the earth, a sudden stretch of blue nearly hidden away from the rest of the world. The only signs of land out there were obscure rock formations shaped by years of rolling waves, but Alaska could not see anything on the horizon, the ocean simply carrying on seemingly forever: this was the very edge of Kanto, the spot where the region ended and opened up to the rest of the world.

"This is the Route 12 Walkway, I think," Sandy said. "I remember seeing something a few months ago about how the concrete walkway had been built to connect the eastern towns, cities and routes of Kanto together. It follows the exact path of an old wooden one that had been destroyed during a fierce storm a few years ago, and it goes from Lavender Town all the way down to east of Fuchsia City."

"So we can add pathways and storms to the list of things that were destroyed and did destroy," Alaska mumbled with an eye roll. "Is there anything in this region that did not get annihilated several years ago?" She glanced over the path of grey that snaked its way above the ocean: the bare, boring concrete was not particularly attractive, especially when taking into account the dazzling ocean that surrounded it and the green of the grass and trees along the coastline, but Alaska would be more reassured walking on something more solid and with a much lower chance of being broken up by a large wave than planks of wood.

"Who cares about the path though when the view is so beautiful," Sandy said, gazing out at the dancing cobalt waters. "Wouldn't you just love to live somewhere with a view like this?"

"I could easily retire here… after I go undefeated as Champion for thirty or forty years, of course," Alaska added, smirking and winking at Paige.

"Champion for forty years! That'll be a record!" Sandy gasped, and then she looked a bit down. "I wonder what I'll be doing in forty years time…"

"You'll be living in my house of course!" Alaska tutted. Sandy turned around, eagerness suddenly in her eyes, and Alaska could not help but smile at her friend's delight.

"Living with you? That would be amazing!" Sandy gasped. "Oooh, where exactly do you picture your house?" Alaska did not usually think about things like this, considering them far too girly and beneath her, but now that Sandy had posed the question, she could not help but begin to ponder.

"Well, I never really wanted a big house as a child, as I always thought that ours was nice and cosy and what a house was meant to be: a few bedrooms, a big backyard, a huge living space and kitchen all connected together, nearly all the houses in Viridian were like that. But then, a few years ago, my brother and sister, they went off to the Arcethian Academy in the Sevii Islands. When I saw all of the brochures and welcome packs they got that showcased everything the school had to offer, I knew that I wanted to have a place like that."

"I have heard of Arcethian; it's the really fancy school, right?"

"So fancy that it makes the Athlew Mansion look like a fricking outhouse," Alaska said, and Sandy snorted with laughter. "It basically looks like Hogwarts except with less magic and wars and more purple carpets."

"And you want purple carpets in your dream house?" Sandy asked, smirking.

"Not a dream house, Sandy m'dear, a dream _mansion_!" Alaska said with perfect emphasis, making Sandy laugh. "It will be four stories high but the same length as all the gyms we've visited lined up next to each other. The outside walls will be so white that it will blind you to look upon them on a sunny day. The garden will be roughly the same size as Lavender Town with Misty's pool directly in the middle. Inside, we will each have our own floor to serve our separate needs, with a massive indoor training area for our Pokemon and an indoor playground 'cause why the hell not! There will be a floor for guests with enough rooms for everyone we have ever met to stay, and then a ground floor where we will throw spectacular cocktail parties and get every gym leader, every Kanto Elite, everyone whose every pissed me off drunk off their faces and sell their shame to the tabloids! Could you see Evelyn dancing to Sexy and I Know It in her petticoat and stockings with Brock gyrating against her in the background?"

"That is the single most disturbing image you have ever put in my head," Sandy said, and Alaska cackled with laughter. "I do like the sound of your house though. However, I insist upon designing my own floor, I am not letting you go anywhere near it!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alaska asked, faking an appalled look.

"No offence Alaska, but you've pretty much worn the same red shirt and blue jeans since I first met you: it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in your creative capabilities!" Sandy said with a judging look at her outfit, but she laughed when Alaska gasped in faux shock.

"I am extremely creative and decorative, thank you very much!" Alaska tutted, a smile creeping onto her face spoiling the image.

"True, I have seen how you have creatively redecorated quite a few of sites around Kanto," Sandy said with her eyebrows raised. "Though I don't think that the Power Plant or Alexis will be recommending your skills any time soon." Alaska was taken aback by Sandy's joyful humour that she could not help but laugh, surprised but delighted by her friend. However, it quickly became more than that: she began rolling on her spot, unable to control herself, the sound of her laughter echoing in their little bit of Kanto. It had been a long time since she had laughed this joyously, and she simply let all her built up emotions escape. Sandy began to laugh at her, and Alaska was not surprised considering she was snorting like some deranged animal, but soon Sandy was roaring with laughter just as loudly as she was. Paige looked embarrassed to be seen with them and flew away to a nearby tree, which only made Alaska laugh louder and she rolled onto the grass, clutching her sides and ignoring the pain that rattled through her left arm.

The laughter carried on for at least another two minutes, leaving both girls breathless and with pained side. As it began to die down, Alaska wiped the tears of joy away from her eyes and she found herself facing the endless sky above, dotted with wispy white clouds that seemed to be scuttling across the blue surface. When she had been young, Alaska had always looked at the clouds and managed to see endless shapes and creatures dancing across the sky, from stuff as simple as a flock of Mareep to gigantic castles and horrific monsters akin to the ones in the old horror movies she had once watched. Laying on the grass now, Alaska watched the clouds and tried to make something out, but all she could see was wisps of white fluff like smoke, no Pidgeot with its wings spread wide, nothing that resembled her father or mother, not even a pair of Mareep grazing upon a sapphire field, just clouds splayed against a blue backdrop.

"Oh god, I have not laughed like that in AGES!" Sandy said with a slight snort from up on the bench. "I was sure my chest was about to burst open!"

"Yeah…," Alaska mumbled back, only slightly listening to what Sandy had to say as she remained staring fixatedly on the clouds. A sea breeze washed over her, and Alaska began to find her mind slipping away as she thought of the bare, unimaginative clouds miles and miles above her and wondering why this was…

"Snoooooor." A deep, booming noise suddenly sounded, and Alaska shot up in shock, her entire body shaking. She looked around as Pidgey and Pidgeotto fluttered into the air in surprise from the nearby trees, and she turned to see Sandy retreating further up the seat, staring fearfully forwards. It was then that Alaska realised where the noise was coming from, and she scrambled off the ground as the sleeping Snorlax began to wake, letting out more growls as it emerged from its slumber.

"Should we run? What if it's hungry, it might have a taste for _flesh_!" Sandy whispered. Alaska wanted to say that was stupid, but she could not help but wonder those things herself. Paige appeared overhead, staying airborne in case she had to fight, and all three of them watched as the Snorlax began to sit up: the great beast seemed to struggle with its own frame, slowly rising like an oddly flabby drawbridge, fat rippling from the sudden movement. Arms ending in pointed claws were flexed, claws that looked sharp enough to tear them apart, and the black, shiny skinned Snorlax slowly made its way onto its squat, almost perfectly circle feet and heaved itself off the ground.

"Be prepared to run," Alaska whispered, reaching inside her bag and feeling from the gun case. The Snorlax cast a large black shadow across the ground now that it was upright, and Alaska could not help but be afraid: this Pokemon was about the size of the mansion she dreamed of having, with sharp claws on its hands and feet, and a mouth wide enough to swallow them whole. The Snorlax's eyes were shut so it could not see them, but they could hear it sniffing the air, searching for its next meal.

"Snooooor," Snorlax roared, and Alaska tensed up as it turned towards them, lugging its giant frame around and causing it to jiggle. Paige flapped her wings more frantically, but Alaska could imagine she was as afraid of being eaten as they were. Sandy grabbed onto Alaska's right arm as if it would protect her, and for once, Alaska didn't mind, knowing that if they went down, at least they would go down together…

"Laaaaax," Snorlax boomed, and it began to waddle forwards, making the ground shake and leaves fall from trees. Alaska pulled the case out as a shadow was cast across her face, and she flicked the lid open, ready to fire whatever she had to in order to stop the beast. It got nearer and nearer, the entire seat wobbling, and Alaska slowly pulled her weapon out with a trembling hand as a giant cream belly filled her vision…

Snorlax turned right past them, its stomach missing Alaska's face by about an inch. She dropped the gun back into its slots and turned to watch as Snorlax went off into the trees, knocking about five falling over at once without even noticing. A trio of Fearow flew up in anger, but the Snorlax ignored them and waddled away, searching for the meal that smelt better than two teenage girls and a Pidgeotto.

"Oh my god, I thought we were done for for a moment there!" Sandy said, wiping her brow jokingly and sliding back along the bench. Alaska nodded and smiled briefly, but she turned and watched as the black blob headed away into the distance, crushing more trees as it moved.

_So did I, for a second there, _Alaska thought to herself. _When did it become that I thought every slightly bad thing that happened to me was going to kill me? Have I become some paranoid, jumpy feeble thing? _Paige landed on her injured arm, making Alaska wince and pulling her out of her thoughts, and she was forced to smile even as a new kind of fear began to settle upon her: the fear of how much this journey and this endless war against Gideon and the robots had changed her. Where was the care free spirit who had first left Viridian City with her head held high, ready for everything that had come her way? Where was the girl who had left with a determined focus on defeating the eight gyms and caring for little else? What had happened to the little girl that could sum. …

_Oh joy, I have become a bitter, joyless shell of my former self… woo hoo… _Alaska thought, resisting the urge to cry out in frustration. She sat up and watched as the Snorlax disappeared from view, only marked by the Flying types soaring away as their homes were destroyed. The path ahead was now completely clear, a large, flattened section of grass and slightly sunken earth showing where the Sleeping Pokemon had been. Alaska leapt to her feet, swinging her bag onto her shoulders and staring out towards the ocean as it lapped against the walkway. _Look at this view: I should be enjoying my journey, not wasting it away stuck in a constant mood… I need to get out of my head. _

"I think it is time we carried on," she said to Sandy, hoping that moving on would clear her head. "Daisy, Evelyn and Jericho held off that attack so that we would have time to get away, and we shouldn't waste it sitting around on a park bench waiting to find something to do." Paige nodded and fluttered onwards, joining the flocks of Pidgey and Pidgeotto fleeing from their destroyed homes.

"That's true, but what way do we go?" Sandy asked, grabbing her satchel bag and swinging it back over her shoulder. The two moved towards the edge of the earth, a clear change between earthen soils and the concrete path snaking its way above the waters. Alaska looked both ways, wondering what awaited her at either end of this pathway that was drenched by the waves lapping over the sides, before staring down as a wave flashed over the edge and onto her shoes. She could see her face reflected in the blue surface: battered, bruise, covered in blood, but mostly, Alaska could see the tiredness in her eyes. "I mean, we haven't really thought about what we are supposed to do here: we're in the middle of nowhere, far away from any friends of ours with no real clue of where we are and what we do next. So… what are we going to do?"

"Good question Sandy… good question."

**The point/message of this chapter is meant to be kind of vague as spelling it out would have defeated the reasoning behind it, but if you did not quite get it, it will be explained more throughout this arc. There will (80% most likely) be a big change coming next time, one that will be apparent from the get go, and I look forward to write things a bit... differently ;) (And before anyone wonders, Pichu was inside its PokeBall, it was not shoved in Sandy's bag or anything, therefore getting crushed in the fall - in case anyone worried! :P)**


	76. Chapter 55: Life's a Beach

**I need to stop apologising... Hopefully there will not be as long of a wait, but I am becoming increasingly unreliable with these promises, so just ignore me and enjoy the story :)**

**Chapter Fifty Five: Life's a Beach **

As Butterfree crashed into the churning ocean, Sandy could not help but wonder if this would be yet another consecutive loss.

It had been three days since they had escaped from CeladonCity, and this was about the seventh training battle she had taken part in. A wide-eyed Bellsprout watched as her team mate disappeared into the crystal blue waters, having suffered the same experience at least three times now. Sandy had been more worried when this had occurred a few days before, but battling on tiny islands surrounded on all sides by water meant that this was fast become a recurring part of these battles. Their latest battle field had barely enough room for them all to fit, with Alaska and Sandy teetering on the edges of their respective sides of the small, sodden field, small waves constantly battering into them, while Bellsprout and Nadia were only a few metres apart.

"Good job Paige!" Alaska exclaimed, and Sandy turned away from the waters, knowing Butterfree would be alright, and remembering she still had the rest of the battle to deal with. The Pidgeotto soared happily around her trainer's head, smiling and chirping loudly at the success of her powerful Aerial Ace, while Nadia nodded briefly at her battle partner before turning to face Bellsprout, a malicious look in her eyes.

"Bellsprout Bell Bell Bellsprout!" The Flower Pokemon wailed, stepping nervously backwards on her stick-like legs.

"Come on Bellsprout, you can do this! Sleep Powder, go!" Sandy shouted, trying to sound enthusiastic, but in reality, she was tired, barely able to remain standing, and battling again was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

These past three days, when they had not been sleeping or eating, Alaska and Sandy had simply been walking. They had first made their way north to see LavenderTown as it was near, where they saw the graveyard was being rapidly rebuilt and the town was quickly moving on from that dreadful afternoon. Sandy had been unable to stay there long though, and Alaska had decided they would head south to Fuchsia and see what they found along the way. Sandy was pleased with a chance to have a break from it all: the last month in particular had been a very odd ride, and a little rest and relaxation was exactly what they all needed. The coastal path was the best place for it, as they had towering trees swaying in the ocean breeze to their right, while the sea stretched out to the horizon to their left, shimmering in all shades of blue and giving a tranquil backdrop very different from the hustle and bustle of Celadon, the perfect spot to stop and think things over.

The only problem was that Alaska quickly got bored. There was little to do to entertain yourself on such a long walk, and she regularly wanted to train her Pokemon as a means of keeping them all active after hours on their feet. Sandy was happy to do so as it made her friend happy, but now that it was all they seemed to do, she could not help but become weary of ordering the same moves over and over again, only for her Pokemon to keep getting beaten backwards to the brink of fainting…

"Ice Beam Nadia!" Alaska ordered, pointing dramatically towards Bellsprout.

_Give us a chance… _Sandy thought wearily as she tried to think of a way to counter this. Alaska knew the perfect ways to defeat Sandy's Pokemon, and it was making the battles not only constant but repetitive, with Sandy and her little team losing each time and only Alaska's Pokemon getting stronger.

Bellsprout ran forwards, her limbs flailing madly, while Nadia stood poised, a confident look in her eyes as the light blue ball of ice formed in her mouth. Paige was circling above the ocean, waiting for Butterfree to come out, and Sandy glanced over at the rippling waters and hoped she was alright before turning back to the battle, just as an idea came into her mind.

"Dive, now!" She shouted, just as Nadia unleashed her attack. Alaska looked surprised as Bellsprout dropped down, the Ice Beam skimming across her slim body and blasting into the earth around them. Using the slightly muddy ground as a sort of slide, Bellsprout came right up towards Nadia and leapt back onto her feet only a few centimetres away.

"Bell!" She cried before shutting her mouth, and then opened it with a force of breath; light purple flecks flew out of her open mouth, and Nadia tried to turn to avoid them, but she was too close to Bellsprout and the Sleep Powder moved swiftly, engulfing her before she could move. The Poison type remained still for a moment, looking at Alaska for what to do now, before simply keeling over as the attack took effect.

"Impressive move!" Alaska said, sounding a bit shocked, and Sandy lit up at the compliment, pleased to see her strategy had worked and taken one opponent down. But she had not won yet: Paige soared down, ready to take over the battle from Nadia, and Bellsprout wobbled backwards in fright. There was no sign of Butterfree, and Sandy turned the sea, trying to catch a sign of her Pokemon… _Please, not another one… this can't happen, not now, not this late in my journey! Alaska, have you even noticed what Paige may have done… _

"FREEEEE!" A cry suddenly erupted from the waters, and Sandy jumped backwards in fright, but her horror to joy as Butterfree emerged from the ocean, flying up towards the sun so that her wet body received a glistening, golden glow like an angel.

"YES!" Sandy yelled ecstatically, skipping on the spot and clapping her hands in glee. "Let's try and win this one guys! Sleep Powder and Poison Powder both on Paige, let's see what hits!"

"Oooh, crafty thing, aren't you?" Alaska said, faking a shocked expression. "I have taught you to well, young grasshopper!" Sandy laughed, and she felt more relaxed as Butterfree soared towards Paige, forcing her towards the ground and closer to a waiting Bellsprout.

"Use Twister!" Alaska shouted, but it was too late: Butterfree flapped her wings, unleashing the purple particles that had formed on them, and Paige dived to avoid the attack. However, she flew directly towards Bellsprout, and the Grass type sprayed her Sleep Powder right into the Pidgeotto's face.

"Pidgeeey…," Paige uttered in shock as her eyelids flickered shut and her wings went limp, and with a soft thud she fell to earth, landing right alongside Nadia. Silence fell except for the sea breeze and the waves crashing against the path, and it took several moments for Sandy to take in what had just happened. This was the first time ever she had ever come so close to defeating Alaska in any of their battles, both opponents lying before them just waiting to be defeated. Sandy wanted to scream out in joy and dance across their little island in the middle of the ocean, to celebrate this victory that was nearly in the bag…

"Congrats Sandy, looks like you win!" Alaska said, smiling widely and genuinely as she reached for her PokeBall's, but Sandy's happiness was shattered as quickly as it had risen.

"It's over?" She asked, trying not to sound upset. "They are only sleeping, they will wake up soon and then we can continue."

"Yeah, but in the time they are asleep, you'll easily be able to defeat them. A bit of Psybeam, a bit of Acid, the match is done!" Alaska explained. "Besides, we are running low on supplies; we can't let them get knocked out and weak when we are so far from any Pokemon Centre." Sandy knew she had a point, and indeed Alaska had never let any of her Pokemon fall unconscious during their previous battles, but a presumed victory did not feel the same, nor did it have the same results…

"You guys were brilliant!" She said to Butterfree and Bellsprout, shaking away all the dark thoughts and making sure her brightest smile was on. "Take a break and we can continue the training later!" Bellsprout smiled broadly back, but it was clear on Butterfree's face that the Butterfly Pokemon was not convinced. Sandy knew she could not hide her emotions from her oldest Pokemon after everything they had been through together, but she simply gave her another smile and withdrew her before Butterfree could get too worried.

"Shall we carry on then?" Alaska said, tossing Sandy her satchel as she picked up her own bag. The entire battle scenario was completely over, with all four Pokemon withdrawn, only a slightly frozen patch left to show anything had happened. Sandy nodded to her friend, knowing there was nothing she could say or do to change her mind, even though she was desperate to carry on and finish the match properly and give her Pokemon the chance to win they so surely needed. Alaska was to move off and continue onto Fuchsia, seeming to already forget about the battle and thinking only about what to do next.

_Alaska's goal, not mine…_, Sandy thought as she attached Potions to her PokeBalls. She did not want to stay here and be left alone once more, but the blonde haired girl began to feel grim as they started off once more…

Over the past few days, it had really begun to struck Sandy the enormity of what had happened to her these past few months. While they had stood on the outskirts of LavenderTown, watching the tucked away little cove like two ghosts rising from the ocean, Sandy had nearly been reduced to tears. She had come so close to dying in that town, and surely would have had Charlotte not been there. She had tried to forget about the incident and leave it in the past, but returning to scene only brought everything back for Sandy, and it hit home what she had gotten herself into.

_I didn't leave home to nearly be killed, and this isn't the only time, _Sandy had thought at the time, and these blossoming worries had lingered as she and Alaska had continued their walk. _I was supposed to be experiencing things, travelling to new places, training Butterfree and the new Pokemon I found. Instead, I have had my mind switched with my Pokemon, nearly been killed by in several terrorist attacks and almost lost half my team. This isn't why I began travelling; this isn't why I threw everything else away…_Sandy pulled the Potions off her PokeBalls once the medicine was emptied up and put everything away, feeling guilty on behalf of her Pokemon for bringing them into this situation. While she did not regret meeting Alaska in the slightest, sometimes Sandy could not help but wonder about when their luck would run out…

The sun was high in the sky as they carried on down the route. Sandy had to keep fanning her dress against her legs to help cool off, and she savoured every time the wind blew sea spray into her face: it was like having her head under the shower on a very low setting, and it helped to keep her happy and energized, washing her troubling thoughts away.

She did not think the same could be said for Alaska. Despite the epiphany she had had at Celadon, Sandy's friend still seemed down. Alaska would never admit it, hiding behind a proud mask of indifference to what happened around her, but Sandy could tell how much things were affecting her: the black haired girl was mostly quiet except when battling or discussing things over their pitiful meals, and it was obvious she was dwelling about similar things to Sandy.

_She really shouldn't keep her cards so close to her chest, _Sandy thought as they walked silently down the dull concrete path. _I could help her if she actually told me things. Like her arm… _Sandy noted Alaska was still holding her left arm close to her chest, as she had since Nitelite had dropped them onto the Snorlax. It had clearly been injured during their escape, but Alaska had not said a single word about it. Sandy could see the way the clothes had bulged around the shoulder, and wondered if it had swollen, and knew that she could have prevented it if Alaska had pointed it out.

_She did promise to start trusting me more and telling me things, I need to let her keep that promise, _Sandy reminded herself. There was no point demanding anything from Alaska, the blonde had learnt, and it was best to just let things naturally come out. However, that did not make it any easier that there were still secrets in their friendship. _Even if I am not being entirely honest, _Sandy reminded herself. She paused for a moment and calmed herself down, not wanting to go down the path when she was already having a bad day.

"I could kill for a meal at ABC again!" She said as her stomach grumbled slightly, trying to distract herself. . "It feels like days since I've had a proper meal!"

"It probably has been. Have you not noticed that we rarely seem to eat, and the only times we do something happens that furthers the events of our lives?" Alaska replied.

"Huh?"

"Never mind…." Alaska said, and Sandy only now noticed there was a distance growing between them, forcing her to pick up the pace.

"I could just see our mansion fitting in around here!" She said as gazed at the continuous rows of trees nestled across the edge of the earth, trying a different tactic to get Alaska talking. "I wouldn't want to knock any trees down though just for our house, we'd need to find somewhere with natural space."

"In order for my house to be the size I want, we're going to need to relocate quite a few Pokemon," Alaska said with a smirk on her face. "Based on the pictures, ArcethianAcademy is a pretty big building, and I want our place to be the same size!"

"Have you not gone there in person?" Sandy asked. "I would have thought you would have gone across with… umm… what are their names again?" She inquired, trying to remember Alaska's siblings as she knew the information was somewhere in her mind. It was only after thirty seconds of silence that Sandy realised Alaska had not replied, and she turned curiously to her friend; Alaska had slowed down so that the two were now alongside each other, and she was staring away at the churning ocean, watching as the scaly hide of a Gyarados slightly broke through the water's surface.

"Edward and Emily," she said finally, and Sandy could not help but notice a touch of sadness in her voice. "And I didn't want to go with them when they left for school, so no, I have not actually seen it in person." Sandy was taken aback by Alaska's sudden display of emotion, and she struggled with how to react: Alaska would not want to be hugged or physically comforted in any way, and would brush off any sort of apologetic statement. Sandy twitched slightly as she reached out to stroke her shoulder and then pulled it back, beginning to feel uncomfortable

"Why?" She asked simply, shoving her hands into her pockets for something to do. Alaska turned towards her, looking the saddest Sandy had seen her since that dreadful stormy night in Celadon. She looked uneasy as well as down, but Sandy could tell this was something she wanted to get off her chest.

"I just felt sort of betrayed by them, I guess… I have never really thought much about it since then; it seems like such a long time ago, and I have barely seen them since. But I was always a lonely child; Viridian is quite small so there aren't a lot of people my age, and Chloe turned the majority of them against me purely as we didn't get along. For a long time I just had my family, and then two of them go and leave the rest of us behind in our backwater town that people only stay in on their way to someplace else. I was pretty annoyed with them, and I refused to even say goodbye properly. We never really gotten along that well, the way that siblings are, but… I kind of regret it now, especially since all of this started. I have not exchanged a word with them for months, I have no idea what they are up to, so what happens if Gideon or the robots catch up to me before I get the chance?"

Silence fell as Alaska finished, looking as shocked as Sandy felt from her sudden outpour of emotion. The sea breeze suddenly felt cold and uncomfortable, and Sandy looked awkwardly away at the swaying trees, not quite sure how to react, and suddenly thinking about her own issues…

_I never said goodbye either, _she thought, pondering over that day three months ago, so far in her past that Sandy could not remember the exact day. She could only remember leaving as the sun came up, Butterfree alongside her for protection, sprinting down Route 22 the second she had shut the door. It had been the most intense moment of her life, but it had also been the happiest… she had finally been free…

"Sandy, are you alright?" Alaska said, her voice snapping Sandy out of her little flashback.

"What? Yes, I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine!" She replied quickly, putting a smile on her face, but then remembered what Alaska had just said and changed her expression. "I… I'm sorry about your siblings, that must have been tough having them walk out on you like that. I know the feeling, and …"

"You do?" Alaska asked, but Sandy became tight lipped, instantly regretting letting that fact slip out. Alaska raised an eyebrow, looking confused, but then she smirked and turned away. "Ah, I see how it is! You've got your own dirty little secrets hidden away, haven't you? What is it then? A forbidden love, robbed your next door neighbour, illicit drug ring?" Sandy laughed, managing to feel a bit better, and was pleased to see a smile crossing Alaska's face as well, the discomfort of her emotional reveal fading away.

"I am entitled to my own family secrets, aren't I?" Sandy replied with a laugh, hoping Alaska would not read too much into that.

"I suppose so. Trust me, there are plenty of things I have not told you about mine," she answered with a glint in her eye. The two both laughed, though there was no denying that there was something slightly forced about it: despite everything they had gone through together, it was clear neither of them were truly ready to bare everything to the other person. Sandy wanted to bring their friendship closer, but she needs to come to terms with a few things first before that is to happen, no matter the strain it would put on their relationship.

"You know what I have been wondering," Sandy said, starting to walk once more and was pleased when Alaska carried on as well, leaving this tense minute in the past. "Why haven't we seen Suicune and Zapdos lately? I had a feeling that those two had become your guardian angels or something." Alaska looked out at the ocean, as if the blue and purple beast would emerge from the waves at the call of his name and appear offering them a lift to Fuchsia, _which would certainly help ease my feet, _Sandy thought painfully.

"I have been wondering that as well. It is a bit unsettling, as I imagine they are still following us, but there has been absolutely no sign of them," Alaska replied, turning back to Sandy looking puzzled. "Maybe they have some magical legendary ability that allows them to be perfectly invisible?" Sandy nodded, and then jumped and screamed as she heard something snap several metres away. They both turned and saw it was simply a tree branch breaking under the weight of a Fearow, which let out a disgruntled cry and took off into the sky.

"That scared me half to death!" Sandy gasped, clutching her chest in fright.

"That is the issue with constantly being followed and attacked, isn't it?" Alaska said with a half smirk that didn't match her eyes. "You never know who or what is stalking you, trying to protect you, secretly a robot or just a random civilian or Pokemon with no idea why some thirteen year olds have such a plethora of scars and bruises." Sandy grimly nodded, only now beginning to realise how these events were beginning to affect her.

"Shall we discus something happier, like, I don't know, the weather? I don't think the weather is trying to kill us," Alaska said, forcing a broad grin.

"It is getting pretty hot, Gideon could have taken control of the sun and has decided to melt us to death," Sandy suggested jokingly, and Alaska began to laugh. Sandy smirked and giggled at her own joke, pleased to see they could move on and get back to a normal discussion. Suddenly, there was a loud bang that made them both jump, and they looked around, knowing that this sound did not belong to any breaking tree branches.

"Alaska, look, there's someone up ahead!" Sandy exclaimed as she saw a slight line of smoke rise in the near distance. "What, no… there are two people over there!" She and Alaska exchanged looks, startled by the sudden appearance of another set of people; they had not seen anyone else since their little side journey had begun, asides from people working in the distance at LavenderTown. It had felt strange on the first day not seeing another soul, but now that there were two up ahead, Sandy could not help but suspect something…

"I think they are battling," Alaska said, her suspicions confirmed a moment later by another soft bang followed by a cloud of smoke. The two picked up their pace, fuelled by intrigue and curiosity, and within a minute they could make out more of the scene: it was another island connected to the mainland by a concrete bridge, though it was much larger than the one they had just been on. A small cottage about half the size of Bill's house in Celadon was settled in the top left corner, its wooden frame rotten with paint faded by the sun and sea. Sandy presumed one of the two battlers lived there, and even from a distance, she got a feeling which of them it may be.

An elderly man was facing an opponent with their back turned to Sandy and Alaska. He had wild grey-white hair with a Dumbledore-esque beard to match, and was wearing a torn and tattered brown jacket and faded shorts that hung limply off his malnourished body. The man looked like the type of hermit that would live on an island and battle strangers for a living, and Sandy felt sorry for the poor old fellow, tucked away on the edge of the earth…

"Come on Goldeen, hit it with a Horn Attack!" The elderly man croaked as Sandy's feet left solid concrete and sunk a centimetre into the sodden earth of the island. She had not noticed until now that the opponent appeared to only be a young boy, dressed entirely in bright clothing and looking diminutive amongst the wide green landscape and never ending sapphire backdrop.

"Sandshrew, you can make this, use Night Slash!" He wailed, high pitched voice reaching hysterical levels, and Sandy looked at Alaska in shock as the voice rung a bell.

"Mitchell?" Her friend gasped, and the ten year old turned around, looking as surprised as they did but far more emotional: he appeared on the verge of tears, and Sandy's sympathy instantly transferred to him.

"Help me!" Mitchell exclaimed, and the old man gave a croaky laugh that reminded Sandy of her grandfather, who use to smoke at least half a dozen cigarettes a day.

"It's a one on one battle, sonny!" He boomed. "Nothing can save you from my Goldeen!" Sandy looked down and recognised the red and white Pokemon: the Goldfish Pokemon, clearly male based on its larger horn, a very common Pokemon found all over the world, swims in large schools like the ones Sandy had witnessed over the past few days.

_Must be a fisherman then, _she concluded, and looked down at Mitchell's side. _A Sandshrew… Mouse Pokemon, Ground type, must have been caught near… Vermilion? Probably after we last saw him. Why would he send a Sandshrew out against a man who lives by the ocean? This was never going to work…_

"Goldeen Goldeen-Goldeen-Goldeen," Goldeen said with a slight sing-song tone, and a ball of water formed suddenly in his mouth. Sandshrew stared in horror at the blue, shimmering sphere, knowing it would mean the end of the battle, but ran forwards anyway with miniscule claws growing and glowing black.

"Saaaaan –" he began, leaping towards the Water type, but it appeared Goldeen had been waiting for such a move.

"DEEEEN!" He cried, and the ball burst, pulses being sent out by the force of his cry. Blue rings shot towards Sandshrew, and Mitchell yelled out as they washed over the Mouse Pokemon, sending him crashing back down to earth.

"NOOO!" The ten year old wailed, but Sandy could tell that the battle was over. The drenched Sandshrew lay at an odd angle, limbs hanging loosely, eyes shut with no sign of movement. Mitchell stared at his Pokemon in wide eyed shock, unable to say a word, but his opponent made up for the silence; the elderly man let out a cackle and did a sort of jig while his smiling Goldeen flailed at his feet, either trying to dance as well or simply running out of water.

"I knew this would be a piece of cake!" He cried, clapping his veined, liver spotted hands together. "That makes my twentieth victory in a row, and one of the easiest ones I've had in a loooong time!"

"Do you need to be so rude?" Sandy snapped indignantly, horrified by the way this man was acting. "He is a young trainer; you don't need to abuse him like this, you could ruin his confidence!" The fisherman stopped dancing and turned towards Sandy, gazing out at her through eyes obscured by bushy eyebrows. He gave her a crooked smile, showing off teeth that seemed a mix of yellow and black that made Sandy want to gag, but she tried to keep her composure and not let this man defeat her.

"If the boy does not have the confidence to stand a loss like this, then maybe he should run on home to his momma!" The man croaked, pulling out a chunkier PokeBall that Sandy recognised as the old Apricorn style and withdrew his flopping Goldeen. "I have been battling people on this spot for the past forty years, and if you can't get past me without winning, then you shouldn't be out on the road anyway!"

"Who are you anyway?" Alaska scoffed. "You make it sound like you're some important trainer but I've never heard of you." The old man looked offended for a moment, but he puffed his chest out and pointed dramatically at Alaska.

"I am Barney, the Fisherman of Route 12, and who are _you_ exactly?"

"Alaska Acevedo, the moody bitch who can't be stuffed dealing with senile old coots!"

"That's battling talk missy!" Barney exclaimed, looking shocked by her language. Alaska raised an eyebrow and pulled out four PokeBalls, and Barney's face quickly sunk. "I have had enough battling for today though, I need to get onto my fishing! Once this boy gives me his backpack then you can all be on your way." Mitchell began to sniffle at this, holding Sandshrew in his hands, and Sandy was taken aback to find the once joyful, loud little boy she had originally met reduced to a snivelling mess.

"What's this about his bag?" Alaska asked with a touch of anger, and Barney flashed another wide, rotten tooth grin.

"Back when I got paid to fish on my little spot here, I would only battle for a bit of money on the side or the occasional piece of food that doesn't come from throwing a net in the sea. These days though, there are hundreds of fishermen floating around on their big ol' boats, getting thousands of Goldeen and Magikarp every time they go out to sea! I can't compete with them, I'm too old to go sailing every day, so I ain't got any other money! I don't have any skills except battling and fishing, so now when I am challenged, the stakes are higher: if you want to carry on down this route unbothered, you have to bet everything that you've got on your back that you can beat me!" Sandy and Alaska looked at each other, horrified by this old man's rules.

"You're twisted!" Sandy cried. "Even if you have a tough life out here, that is no excuse for robbing people blind! How do you expect anyone to survive on their own if they lose all of their possessions?" Barney simply cackled to himself and shrugged his bony shoulders before turning towards Mitchell, looming dramatically over the poor boy.

"Come on boy, hand it over!" He croaked, even as Mitchell continued to cry, his clothes becoming smeared with mud.

"Please, this is all I own, you can't take this away from me!" He wailed. Barney grunted and swooped down with surprising speed, lunging for the bag and trying to pull it from his back.

"HEY!" Alaska and Sandy yelled simultaneously, and they ran forwards and began pulling the old man's surprisingly powerful hands off the bag handle. Mitchell was crying loudly now, tugging at Sandy's heartstrings, and he slumped onto his side in the muddy grass, still holding his unconscious Sandshrew. It was an uncomfortable and awkward scene, and Sandy looked to Alaska for advice on what they should do, but she looked as put off as Sandy felt.

"Listen here ladies, no one interferes in _my_ business unless they wish to battle!" Barney barked, looking wild and unhinged as his sun-weathered face twisted in fury amongst his wild grey locks. He pulled another Apricorn Ball from his pocket and held it right up in Sandy's face. "What do you say then, missy? Battle me, and if you defeat me, you can take the little runt and leave unharmed and with all your belongings, including his bag!" Sandy gazed between the Apricorn Ball and Mitchell snivelling on the grass, feeling both sorry for the poor boy, angry at the old man, and a realisation of what this battle could mean…

"And if I lose?" She asked quietly, and Barney let out a dodgy snigger.

"If _I_ win, then I get every one of your bags!" He boomed, just as a chilly sea breeze blew across the island, sending shivers up her spine. Mitchell stopped crying as the deal was put out, looking up with his hair coated in mud, snot and tears covering his face. Alaska stepped forwards with a nervous expression on her face and leaned in close so Barney would not hear.

"You don't have to do this Sandy, there are other ways to deal with this guy," she whispered. "We have more to lose than to gain, and this guy is clearly up to something: he refused to battle me but he wants to challenge you?" Sandy knew this was all true, and refusing the challenge would be the more sensible thing to do, but the events of the last few days had stirred up a mixture of emotions. She thought of Butterfree disappearing beneath the waves, Bellsprout not getting the development she so surely needed, her little Pichu who had not yet had any battle experience, and who could barely stand on his own…

Sandy shut her eyes and thought of the night before she had walked out the door: _You can't train Pokemon, haven't you learnt this already! Look what happened last time… last time… last time…_ She had left to try and enjoy her life, to try and become a great trainer, and all she had done was let herself be dragged around Kanto while getting chased by a group of shadowy figures who wanted her dead by association.

"I accept your terms," Sandy boomed, forcing a smile to try and disguise the tears building up in her eyes. Alaska looked shocked but Sandy refused to let it affect her, reaching into her satchel and pulling out her PokeBalls. "How many Pokemon are you thinking?"

"Oh, why don't we make this one a two-on-two, a real battle rouser, eh?" Barney croaked, fetching another Apricorn Ball from his pocket. Sandy nodded and flashed her brightest smile, hoping that she could wear him down with kindness. She examined her own PokeBalls, thinking of the types of Pokemon she might see and who she should use against them, but the main thing she could think of was what this battle signified.

It was time for Sandy to prove herself, and make this nightmare worthwhile. 

**I hope you all enjoyed the new perspective. It may seem like a random time to bring in Sandy's perspective in the middle of an arc, but I feel it flows on from Alaska's confusion at the end of the previous chapter and gives our main character a chance to have a break rather than a few more chapters of "I wonder why every wild Pokemon I meet is actually a robot?" Besides, Sandy gets a chance to share more of her tale, even if she is not revealing it all... yet ;) **


	77. Chapter 56: Something Fishy

**It has been another long break, but I can promise that there will be a minimum of another two chapters before the end of the month to make up for the break and help us move along to a big Saffron arc where a few plotlines are going to come together. I hope you enjoy a further look inside Sandy's mind!**

**Chapter Fifty Six: Something Fishy This Way Comes**

"If I lose all my stuff, I am kicking you in the face."

Sandy heard Alaska's warning and knew it was being directed towards Mitchell, even though she knew he was not who her friend was really angry with. _I am sorry Alaska, but I need to do this, _Sandy thought as she positioned herself on the muddy island, wishing they both had the courage to say what they truly felt…

"If you kick me in the face, I will tell my mum, and she will tell _your _mum, and then you'll be sorry!" Mitchell retorted, beginning to act perkier now that his battle was over and someone else was facing Barney.

"We are all the way on the other side of Kanto; I could kick you in the face a million times and they wouldn't find out for months," Alaska replied with a devilish smile that made Mitchell shiver, and Sandy could tell she was enjoying tormenting the small child. The blonde haired girl smiled, glad Alaska was making jokes once more and that she was beginning to revert to her old self. Something had happened after she had freed Darwin and fled off into the storm, and while Alaska remained cagey on the subject and said it was just an 'epiphany', Sandy knew it had been beneficial for her friend.

"Are we actually going to battle or stand around and stare at the sea?" Barney croaked from his side of the field. Sandy pushed all thoughts of Alaska out of her mind and got into battle mode; she had to focus on beating the fisherman and saving their belongings. She had a strategy in mind, and it was going to be risky, Sandy was certain it would pay off in the end… it had to.

"I'm ready – let's get started!" She called out, her two PokeBalls in hand, and Barney flashed his disgusting, black toothed smile at her.

"Very well then, my pretty – Seaking, Poliwag, let's go!" The two Apricorn Balls spiralled forwards, and they opened with less flash like modern balls, white energy pouring out and forming on the field. Sandy knew what both Pokemon looked like and there were no surprises with Poliwag: it was small and blue with a spiralled pattern on its chest, with no arms and tiny legs so it would resemble a beach ball if it did have a long, slim white tail protruding from its back. Seaking, who formed alongside, was a larger version of Goldeen with a longer horn, bigger tail fin, and same colour scheme as its pre-evolution asides from darker red splotches. However, while Sandy knew Seaking were considerably bigger than Goldeen, this one was huge; it looked as though it weighed more than her, Alaska and Mitchell put together, and was roughly the same size as Onix's head. Sandy gulped, thinking of the size and weight of her own Pokemon, and wondered if her Rock Snake may be a better choice…

_No, think of type advantages! _She told herself, quickly shaking away the foolish idea. _I need a chance at winning this, and Onix cant' me that. I have to win this, for Alaska, for Mitchell, for myself…_

"Bellsprout and Pichu, I choose you!" Sandy yelled, and she threw her two PokeBalls forwards. Her two Pokemon quickly formed, with Bellsprout healed from her earlier battle, while Pichu's small stature was emphasized as he stood on a muddy patch, looking around in confusion as if he had just woken up.

"A Grass and an Electric type, smart move," Barney stated with a slight grunt, and Sandy could see he was already put off at his disadvantage. However, he did not know Bellsprout had minimal battle experience, or that this was the first time Pichu was battling competitively. Sandy had tried training him, and with some success he had fought and damaged Butterfree, but the Tiny Mouse Pokemon was still far from mastering the few moves he did know. He was still young and temperamental, and Sandy was not sure how he would react fighting proper opponents. However, he did have a super effective move on his hands, and it could make all the difference in this battle.

"Sandy, are you mad?" Alaska hissed, and Sandy turned to find her friend standing right next to her, smiling so everything looked fine but her teeth were clenched and her eyes burned with rage. "I thought you would have at least sent Butterfree out, she is your most experienced Pokemon! Hell, even Onix could do better than Pichu in this situation –"

"You have to trust me on this!" Sandy replied, smiling as well but was struggling to hide her own shock; how could Alaska say something like that, after everything they had been through together? Did she still not trust Sandy after all this time?

"How can when you make decisions like this?" Alaska whispered. "Do you remember what is at stake here? This is not a situation you can afford to take risks in! God, you should have let me fight!" Sandy was shocked, and for a second she let her sadness show. However, she remembered the wicked mind she was facing and quickly straightened her expression, but the words still cut deep.

"Alaska, I have always trusted your battle calls! I have never once criticized you; not for sending Pidgeotto out against Surge, not for relying on burning down Alexis' gym to secure a win, not even when we faced Gideon! I would have been well within my rights to call you out, but I never did, so you owe me the same _damn _courtesy!" And Sandy turned away before the tears started flowing, though she briefly caught Alaska's startled expression. She never liked confronting people, it always made her feel terrible, but Sandy almost felt good about saying that… though that made her feel bad…

"Are we battling or what?" Barney snapped. "I have other things to do today, y'know!"

"Oh really? I am sure that a decrepit old coot living on the edge of the world really has a busy day ahead!" Sandy snapped, letting her anger and confusion slip out, but she gasped and clasped her hands to her mouth as soon as she heard what she said. Barney's jaw dropped, Mitchell 'ooohed' from the sidelines, and even Bellsprout turned around, her eyes wider than normal.

"Oh, you little bitch!" Barney hissed. "I will make you pay for that one! I am starting this battle, I am sick of waiting – Seaking, ready Skull Bash, and Poliwag use DoubleSlap on Bellsprout!" Sandy was worried; she had known the battle would be difficult, but after insulting her opponent, any chance Barney would easy on her was gone. The massive Seaking shifted his weight so his horn was pointing straight forwards, and it began to glow white, pulsating energy that began to encircle his body.

_I must focus, I can't let this get in the way, _she told herself. _We can win this, no matter what he throws our way! _

"Bellsprout use Magical Leaf on Seaking! Pichu, begin with Quick Attack on Poliwag!" Sandy commanded, and she felt reassured as soon as her Pokemon began to move. Pichu still looked a bit absent, but he seemed aware he was in a battle now and gazed around before spotting Poliwag, and he quickly got into gear.

"CHU!" He cried, a high pitched squeal that nearly made Sandy 'awww', and the Electric type sprinted towards Poliwag. He slammed into the spherical Pokemon with enough force to knock her over, but she rolled back onto her feet and Poliwag looked more bothered about getting muddy than the fact she was attacked.

"BellBellBell!" Bellsprout called as her leaves began to flicker different colours, and she spun her body around, multiple leaves shooting off and rocketing towards Seaking. The Water type winced and emitted a low groan as the attack hit, but it did not seem to do as much damage as Sandy would have liked.

"POLIIII!" Poliwag shouted, and she leapt forwards. She began to spin as Bellsprout landed, and her tail came around, smacking the Flower Pokemon across the face. Bellsprout stumbled over, but the swirling Pokemon managed two more hits before landing on her feet. Sandy was stunned to see how disorientated Bellsprout now was, the Grass type's thin body wobbling as she tried to recover from the brutal slapping.

"One attack and it's already getting weak!" Barney sneered with a malicious smile, and Sandy angrily glared back at him, refusing to let herself get bullied.

"You can do this Bellsprout! Just stand your ground and focus!" She called. Bellsprout stopped moving and managed a no before turning back around, and she pushed her stick like legs into the ground to ensure her balance.

"That won't save her from my Pokemon! Skull Bash on Bellsprout, and Poliwag use Mud Shot on Pichu!" Barney ordered, and Sandy resisted the urge to curse, taken aback by Poliwag's super effective move; things were definitely intense now.

"Alright Pichu, you use Slam on Poliwag, and Bellsprout use Vine Whip on Seaking!" She cried. Her Pokemon readied themselves to attack but their opponents were already in action. Seaking suddenly shot forwards without order; the white energy that had surrounded him was used to propel himself forwards, and Sandy watched as the Goldfish Pokemon moved like a great white and red rocket heading for Bellsprout.

"KIIIIIING!" Seaking boomed as he approached. Bellsprout looked stunned and extend her arms out, trying to use Vine Whip as defensively rather than offensively, but it was no use; Seaking slammed into her, and Sandy gasped as her Grass type was sent careering through the mud, splattering it everywhere, and the force of the attack sent her rolling for metres, nearly over the edge, Seaking sliding right after her.

"WAAAAG!" Sandy turned back and witnessed as Poliwag whacked her tail onto the field, and suddenly a column of mud was flying forwards. An oblivious Pichu was still running forwards to attack, and the attack hit him head on, covering him in mud and blasting him backwards.

"Two Pokemon easily brought down!" Barney yelled, and he began to cackle, clearly enjoying his easy victory. Sandy was beginning to get nervous; her Pokemon were easily being overpowered, her type advantage going out the window against stronger attacks and a field that could be used against them.

_There has to be something I can do… _Sandy thought. _I have been studying for this journey for years; I have to have learnt something that I can use here! _

"Now Seaking, use Poison Jab while you have that thing trapped! Poliwag, DoubleSlap on Pichu!" Barney ordered. Sandy turned to Bellsprout and Seaking, unable to see the Flower Pokemon beneath all the mud, but she could see the purple glow of Seaking's horn as he readied to strike. She could see how close the two were, and an idea finally formed in her mind.

"Fire a Sleep Powder into his face!" Sandy commanded. "Pichu, use Quick Attack and then cling onto Poliwag's head!" Pichu quickly, almost magically, burst out from the mud and collided directly into a nearby Poliwag. Sandy was delighted by the ease of that attack, but there was a much trickier battle occurring behind her.

"Get away from there Seaking!" Barney yelled, and Sandy smiled to herself as that was exactly what she wanted; Bellsprout was a sitting flower trapped beneath Seaking like that, so she had hoped the threat of sleep would get the Water type to move.

"Sprout!" Bellsprout cried as she fired the particles, but Seaking used his fins to slide backwards, the field so muddy it was more liquid than solid.

"Get out of there!" Sandy yelled, and Bellsprout pushed herself up, her body completely coat in mud. Seaking was ready to strike, his horn now a similar shade to Sandy's dress, but Sandy had seen how effective the mud had been for him. "Slide forwards!" She ordered, and before Seaking could move, Bellsprout ran and dived into the mud; her light body slid across the surface, and she used her leaves as flippers to propel herself across. She was low to the ground now, and though Seaking chased after, there was no way his horn could get low enough to hit Bellsprout.

Grinning, Sandy turned to find Pichu clinging onto Poliwag's head and refusing to let go, even though the Tadpole Pokemon was desperately trying to fling him off. She could not use DoubleSlap without risking injuring herself, and Pichu went through the turn unscathed. Barney looked irritated, and Sandy could have skipped in delight; the battle was starting to go her way, and she had a chance to actually win this.

"Neat tricks, but that's all those were; silly little moves you won't pull off again!" The old man warned. "Waterfall on Bellsprout and Mud Shot on Pichu!"

"Pichu use Slam on Poliwag and Bellsprout use Magical Leaf on Seaking!" Sandy called. Bellsprout jumped back to her feet and turned around to face her opponent, but Seaking was clearly as into the battle as his trainer, and he quickly slammed his fins, now glowing a bright shade of blue, onto the muddy field. A column of water suddenly erupted underneath Bellsprout and she fired at least three metres into the air.

"BEEELLLLL!" She cried, and Sandy watched in horror as Bellsprout was bounced around by the attack, unable to escape from the never ending column.

"ChuChu!" Pichu cried to her left, and Sandy turned as Pichu sprung up from Poliwag's head, rising up nearly a metre, before crashing down on top of the Water type. The Tiny Mouse Pokemon laughed in delight at Poliwag's jiggling body, but his smile turned to fright as Poliwag finally threw him off with her tail.

"WAAAG!" She cried, forcing him to the ground, and she unleashed the Mud Shot directly onto the baby Pokemon. Pichu wailed as he was sent soaring backwards in a shower of wet earth, splattering Sandy and Seaking as he went by.

"Pichu!" Sandy cried as he crashed to the ground, completely buried by the mud. She wanted to go and comfort him, but Seaking moved into her path, smiling as maliciously as Barney did. There was a soft thud from behind, and Sandy turned back to find the Waterfall had disappeared; while Bellsprout had been cleaned of the mud, she now lay unmoving on the field, her eyes barely open.

_No… this can't be… _Sandy thought, and she felt on the verge of tears as she looked between her two Pokemon, both looking so fallen and defeated. She was foolish to have gotten her hopes up the last turn, there was still a long way to go until she could win this, but Sandy could not help but wonder if she had been foolish all along…

_You can't train Pokemon; this is a fact, Alex, one you need to grow up and accept! Do you really think you can protect yourself with a Metapod? You'll get that thing killed and then yourself, and I won't be able to come and rescue you! Do you really want to die in the middle of a route, where the chances are higher something will find you and eat you before the police can get to you? You walk out that door and you are kissing your life goodbye Alex…_

"Can you stop daydreaming like some ditzy tart and focus on our battle?!" Barney snapped. Sandy barely paid attention to him as her father's words swirled across her mind. She had never listened to him before, having always thought he was just overreacting, but this battle could very well prove him right; what would happen if she did get defeated here? How could she live without her supplies, without food or shelter or clean clothing? If Sandy lost, she would simply prove him right at the same time as confirming her death sentence.

_I will just have to prove him wrong then, _she thought defiantly. _I have not survived terrorists and killer robots to let myself get beaten by some crusty, unstable old fisherman! If I take one Pokemon down first, then it could be easier…_

"I am not waiting any longer! Seaking use Waterfall again, I liked that way the flower danced, and Poliwag finish that Pichu off with another Mud Shot!"

"Bellsprout use Magical Leaf and Pichu use Volt Tackle, both on Poliwag!" Sandy ordered. Barney's face dropped in surprise, and Sandy managed to perk up, but she would not declare this a victory until Poliwag had fainted. Seaking unleashed the Waterfall again, remaining backwards possibly to avoid any attacks, and Bellsprout was fired back into the air. She began to bounce around again and Sandy was worried she would not survive, but was relieved when she saw something glow, and seconds later a barrage of leaves soared down from the Waterfall, smacking Poliwag right in her spiral and sending her skidding through the grass and mud.

Now came the difficult part. Sandy turned around to face Pichu, and found the little yellow Pokemon had gotten back to his feet, though he was wobbling slightly, struggling to remain upright. Sandy knew that using Volt Tackle would likely knock him out as well, and that was a huge gamble to take, but so was using Pichu in the first place. Half the time when Butterfree had attacked him in training, Pichu had either burst into tears or gotten into a mood and refused to carry on. He was starting to look pouty, but Magical Leaf had not been enough to take Poliwag out and Volt Tackle was necessary.

"You can do this Pichu!" She called out, and her Pokemon looked up at her. "You have the advantage, you have the strength to make it work, but you just need to access that power and show us what you can do!" Sandy put on such an encouraging smile that it made her face hurt, and she could only hope Pichu would respond.

"Do it now Poliwag before he moves!" Barney ordered, and Sandy briefly turned away, watching as Poliwag started to run forwards and bring the attack to Pichu. She was nervous Pichu was not going to act, but when she looked back, it seemed the Electric type was not going to stand around and get attacked.

"Pi Pi Pi!" He yelled, and he ran forwards with steely determination Sandy had not seen from him before. Pichu began to glow yellow as he sprinted past Seaking, sparks flying from his body, and his natural light only got stronger the closer he got to Poliwag. Sandy beamed as Poliwag came to a stop, her eyes widening in fear, but there was no stopping it now: electricity burst from Pichu and shrouded his entire body, and it now looked like a bolt of electricity was rocketing across the field.

"PICHUPICHUPICHUPICHUPICHUPICHU!" Pichu yelled, and he ran straight into Poliwag. There was a yellow flash that nearly blinded Sandy, and the water on the field sparked as an electrical current skimmed across the surface. The force of the attack sent mud flying, and Barney cried out as he was hit in the face, not even noticing as Poliwag soared out from the cloud and splatted down right behind him. Sandy was delighted at the effects of the attack, but as smoke surrounded Pichu, there was no way of telling if either Pokemon had fainted…

"Oh right, we don't have a referee," Alaska said suddenly from the sidelines after a few moments of nothing happening. "I guess that will have to be me…" she said, smiling awkwardly, and the black haired trainer skidded through the mud towards Poliwag. "Oh yep, this thing is a dead as the blue rock it looks like," she announced. Sandy internally squealed, but did not want to seem too happy just yet as Alaska walked past Barney, purposefully bumping into him as she headed for Pichu. The smoke had finally cleared, but Sandy still could not tell…

"And, I am sorry to say, Pichu has fainted as well – only Bellsprout and Seaking remain," Alaska called. Barney made a sort of annoyed grunting noise, but Sandy felt crestfallen; Pichu had sacrificed himself to take Poliwag down, losing in his first significant battle.

"Great job Pichu, thank you for all you did," Sandy whispered as she withdrew her youngest Pokemon, feeling terrible for putting him in that position. She could not let herself dwell on this though, as she had to focus even more now that only Bellsprout remained to fight off the massive Seaking. She turned to see Bellsprout was doubled over, breathing deeply as she tried to stand back up. Meanwhile, Seaking seemed unfazed by it all, creepily watching Sandy with its yellow and black eyes.

_Bellsprout can pull this off, I just know she can, _Sandy told herself, but she found it difficult to feel great when Bellsprout appeared so weary. Alaska smiled, albeit stiffly, as she left the field and Sandy knew she would be worried about the battles overcome, and she felt a strong pang of regret. _My Pokemon were not ready for this… they are not nearly as experienced as Alaska's…_

"One down, only one left!" Barney yelled out, quickly ignoring the demise of his Poliwag as it was clear Seaking had an advantage here. "Let's see how well long Bellsprout can last against my mighty Seaking! Poison Jab!"

"Hold him off with Vine Whip!" Sandy yelled. "Keep your distance!" Bellsprout straightened up, stretching her arms to get herself ready, and Sandy smiled; she had a loyal soul in Butterfree and a rough powerhouse in Onix, but Bellsprout was the one that showed determination even when everything turned to custard. Even if they lost the fight, Sandy was proud that her Pokemon had such characteristics… if only she had displayed them herself.

"Seaking Seak!" Seaking called, and he slid forwards with his horn shining purple. The muddy grass easily parted for his hefty frame, and Seaking positioned himself so his horn was like a violet javelin, ready to tear into Bellsprout.

"Bell!" Bellsprout exclaimed, a touch of courage in her weakened, tired voice, and she sent her arms forwards. As Seaking approached, Bellsprout brought one vine crashing down on his head, hitting him in the right eye. Sandy was surprised to see Seaking slip, nearly going off balance, but he continued forwards, forcing Bellsprout to bring her other arm down on his left eye. She was taking Sandy's order and trying to put some space between herself and Seaking by pushing on Seaking's face with her vines, but there was less than twenty centimetres between the two, and Bellsprout was not strong enough to slow Seaking down.

"BEEELLLLL!" She yelled, suddenly slipping, and Seaking took the opportunity to shoot forwards. Sandy winced as his horn skimmed across Bellsprout's middle, and the Flower Pokemon was sent rolling backwards while Seaking came to a smooth stop.

"Excellent work!" Barney shouted, before turning to face his audience with a toothless smile. "Not long now until everyone you own belongs to me! That Bellsprout probably won't last another attack, wouldn't you agree?" Sandy didn't want to look at her friends, but she was riddled with guilt and could not help herself; Mitchell looked both shocked and sad at the same time, while Alaska was trying to ignore it all by staring at her shoes.

_You know that I am doing this all wrong, don't you? _Sandy thought, feeling teary as she gazed at her friend. _You would have used Paige and Frances, ordered Twister and Solarbeam and we'd already be on done… my god, I know how to battle with your Pokemon better than my own! _Sandy kicked out at the nearest mud clot and wanted to scream in rage. She was furious with everyone; Mitchell for starting this, Barney for being a disgusting creep, those Cerulean gunmen for making them flee to this route, with Gideon, with the reality stars, the robots, even Alaska – would Sandy feel the need to prove herself if her friend did not hog all the spotlight, and would she be losing if her Pokemon had not received the same attention as Alaska's?

But mostly, Sandy was annoyed with herself. All her life she had submitted to other people, letting herself get bullied and teased at school, then letting her father control her life, and now she had let herself become a sidekick rather than friend to Alaska. If anyone was to blame for the fact Bellsprout was close to fainting, Sandy knew it all boiled back to her, and that had to change before she lost everything

"We can end this Seaking! Use Skull Bash!" Barney yelled. "After that, Bellsprout will be history, and we will have a big ol' bag of goodies to last us through the summer!" Both trainer and Pokemon smiled and Seaking readied himself to attack, building up the necessary energy to propel himself forwards. Sandy was infuriated by these wizened loony's arrogant confidence, with the fact he was willing to risk two more attacks before hitting Bellsprout, but it was clear that Skull Bash would be all Bellsprout needed to go down – but she would not go down without a fight.

"Listen to me Bellsprout!" Sandy yelled, and her weary Grass type looked up. "We have been together since CeruleanCity, but this is our toughest fight yet! I know this looks impossible and that Seaking has the advantage… but trust me when I say that you can do this! I believe in you Bellsprout, and I know you are not the type of Pokemon to fall at your first big challenge! You are too strong and too good for that, and if you put your heart into this, we can win this! Now use Magical Leaf and show Barney what a Bellsprout is made of!"

"Bellsprout Bell!" Bellsprout yelled a tad hoarsely, but her pink lips curved into the biggest smile Sandy had ever seen, and she beamed with relief as the Flower Pokemon unleashed her barrage of glowing leaves. Seaking winced as they exploded against his body, and it became obvious that while he was strong, he was not as powerful as Barney would like them to think; super effective moves still had a chance to turn this around.

"Finish this Seaking!" Barney bellowed, looking a touch nervous. Sandy had to think of a way to end this and guarantee Bellsprout won. She begrudgingly thought back to Alaska's battles that she had watched from the sidelines, and remembered her friend's knack for spontaneous, unconventional moves…

"Use Vine Whip and slam both into his right side!" Sandy yelled, taking a huge gamble. At that moment, Seaking took off, his horn a blinding white as his built up energy propelling him forwards. Bellsprout looked more confident now even though she was struggling to stand, and she extended her arms and readied, waiting for Seaking to come closer. If this got mistimed, Bellsprout would be hit and Sandy would lose everything, but she was confident in her Pokemon… she would not, could not, let that happen…

"BEEEEEELLLL!" Bellsprout yelled, and she swung out with her vines when Seaking was only a few metres away. The Goldfish Pokemon yelled as they smashed into him, and the force was enough to send him spinning around on the slippery surface. His horn still glowed, but Seaking quickly turned into a rotating red and white blur.

"JUMP ON HIM!" Sandy yelled, and Bellsprout flung herself onto his tail as he spun towards her, latching on with her nimble body. Barney looked taken aback, and Seaking tried to throw Bellsprout off, but the spinning was making him unbalanced and the Grass type was holding on with every ounce of energy she had left.

"NOW BELLSPROUT, USE YOUR VINES AND THROW HIM!" Sandy screamed, getting a bit hysterical but she couldn't care less: her risky plan was working, and they were winning, it was actually happening!

"SPROUT!" Bellsprout yelled, and she slid off his body and wrapped her arms around his tail, ramming her legs into the mud and forcing Seaking to a stop. Then, with every last bit of energy, Bellsprout swung her body, pulling Seaking through the mud, and then flung him across the field.

"YES BELLSPROUT, YES! YOU DID IT BELL, YOU DID – Oh shit…" Sandy's delight evaporated instantly as she realised where Bellsprout had flung Seaking. Barney's jaw dropped, but they could only watch as Seaking bounced across the surface of the field before flying right through the closest corner of Barney's shack. The rotten wood easily gave way, and Seaking's massive frame took out a very large chunk as he rolled inside. Sandy watched in horror as the building creaked loudly, and suddenly the two walls hit caved in, bringing the roof down with them with more of a squelch than a crash.

Silence fell across the field, all except for the wind and the crashing of the waves against their island. No one was quite sure what to say, and Sandy was struggling with a cross between complete shock and amazement at what she had just pulled off. _I won, I won a battle! I may have just pulled an Alaska, but I still won! We're safe, he can't take our bags now, and – wait, why is Bellsprout glowing? _Sandy looked down at Bellsprout as the Flower Pokemon began to emit white light. She was confused, but then she remembered seeing the same thing happening twice to her before: once when a Caterpie had clung itself it to her window, and again when a Metapod's shell had cracked open on her dining room table…

"Bellsprout!" Sandy exclaimed in joy for the last time, and she watched as her Pokemon fully shone: her stick-like body began to shrink while her head grew, doubling, nearly tripling in size. A stick began to emerge from the back of her head, while the leaves transferred up on either side of her face…

It was a brief evolution, but when the light disappeared, Sandy was ecstatic: there, in the middle of a disgustingly muddy field, was a bright yellow and green Weepinbell, essentially a large version of Bellsprout's head, staring up with tiredness in her eyes.

"Oh Weepinbell, congratulations!" Sandy yelled, and she finally let herself cry as she rushed to greet her latest Pokemon. She scooped her up and wiped the mud off with her dress, not caring that she got dirty herself, and pulled her into a hug. "You were amazing out there; you so deserved this to happen! Thank you for being so amazing!"

"Weep," Weepinbell mumbled in acknowledgement, and Sandy held her close, wishing that she could be alone to celebrate this victory.

"You bitch!" Someone snapped, and Sandy's happiness shattered. She looked up to see Barney was still standing on his side, but was now looking at her with pure rage etched on his wizened face. Another Apricorn Ball was in his hands, and Sandy had a feeling that it did not contain Seaking. "You've destroyed my house! I built that thing myself, it has stood on this spot for DECADES! How dare you, you little _whore_! You are going to pay for this!" He roared, and he raised his arm.

"Don't you dare!" Alaska yelled, and she appeared before Sandy, her own PokeBalls in hand. Sandy did not want her to start another fight, as it would only lead to more damage and weaken their Pokemon further. However, Barney just winked and turned around; he threw the ball into the churning waves, and there was a brief flash of white from underneath the surface.

"What's going on?" Mitchell asked from the sidelines. Sandy was unsure, but it was clear the fisherman did not want to battle. Suddenly, something large and blue broke through the water, rising up into the sky. Sandy had seen plenty swimming past, but this was the first time she had seen a Gyarados up close since Damien's, and this one looked much nastier: its body was horrible scarred, big red wounds cut deep into its skin, one eye half shut from a bruise, and several teeth were missing. That only made it look even angrier, and Sandy held Weepinbell close as fear filled her, the great, ugly, angry Gyarados staring viciously down at them all.

"This is my oldest and most loyal Pokemon," Barney explained with a sadistic smile. "I don't use him for these petty battles anymore; I save his strength for capturing bigger rewards then you lot. However, I also use him to teach those that have wronged me a lesson; these scars are a mark of all those fisherman who tried fighting him off as he tore through their ships and sent them to the bottom of the ocean! Now, it is time you brats get what you deserve! SURF!"

"Our bags!" Alaska gasped, and as Gyarados roared and lifted his tail, she sprinted forwards and grabbed hers and Sandy's from the mud. Sandy was shaken, unsure what was about to happen, but she did not want to be separated from her friend. She rushed towards Alaska with Weepinbell pressed against her chest, but the attack was already coming; Gyarados slammed his tail against the water while his wicked eyes glowed blue, and it picked up one of the waves. Instead of crashing into the concrete path, it was whipped up, quadrupling in size, and was sent careering towards them.

Sandy watched in horror as the giant wave soared across the island, coming straight for them. Barney began to laugh as the wall of water slammed into Alaska and Mitchell, and Sandy yelled as it came towards her. She turned tried to run, but the Surf crashed into her, hitting her with the force of a speeding truck, and she toppled to the ground. Weepinbell yelled out as Sandy smashed into the mud, but she was only on the ground for a second before the roaring wave picked her up, sending her spinning around

Sandy gasped for breath as she was pulled beneath the water, the weight of the attack crushing her chest. She tried to find something to grab onto, but the wave was moving too quickly, and instead Sandy could only shut her eyes as they were pushed off the island, away from the path, and sent straight into open waters


	78. Chapter 57: Washed Up

**Chapter Fifty Seven: Washed Up**

It had never occurred to Sandy just how necessary oxygen was to her existence, but now that it was running out, she knew that if she survived, she would treasure every breathe.

She was being pushed uncontrollably by the powerful Surf, trapped beneath gallons of water and flying forwards faster than she knew possible. Her body was getting abused, the water slamming her into the concrete path and against the rocks, making it feel like all her bones had broken. Sandy was trying her best to hold her breathe, but she would not be able too for much longer; her throat was closing up and her head was throbbing from the lack of oxygen and the effect of being spun around.

_I have to protect Weepinbell, I must! _Sandy told herself, and she kept her arms firmly wrapped around her Grass type despite all that was happening; there was a chance they would both drown in this monstrous Surf, but Sandy would not let her weakened Weepinbell get injured any further and lessen her chances of getting away.

However, with every second that passed, it seemed less and less likely they would get out of this. Sandy's eyes were tightly shut against the water, but a different sort of darkness was settling in on her, like a blanket wrapping around her brain. The lack of oxygen was killing her, but if she opened her mouth Sandy would only swallow water and drown sooner. She wanted to try and break free, but the Surf was too strong, and Sandy was getting weaker and weaker as the Surf carried her out to sea. When she had been shot, Sandy's body had simply gone into shock and she had only felt numb. Now, she had gained multiple injuries within seconds and was running out of oxygen, so Sandy could feel the pain as her life began to slip away.

She had always heard that your live flashed before your eyes when you died, but having already nearly died once, Sandy now knew that in your last moments you could not help but think back on the people and events that had shaped your world. As the water crushed her the life out of her, Sandy let her mind drift off so she would not have to think of this suffocating pain; she thought of her childhood, care-free and full of joy, she thought of her parents when they had both been happy and smiled willingly. Sandy remembered the day she had last seen her mother, then the day she had last seen her father smile. She managed a grin as she reflected on the day a Caterpie had appeared on her window sill, and then the morning she took it as a Butterfree away on a grand adventure. She remembered meeting Alaska, battling the robots, her mind switch with Butterfree, the attack on Vermilion, getting drunk, getting shot, watching Alaska burn down the Celadon gym… as her brain screamed for the oxygen it desperately needed, one final thought crossed Sandy's mind; after wanting it for so long, had her journey been worth it?

Suddenly, Sandy came to a stop, and for a moment she wondered if she had died, her mind and soul leaving the force of the Surf. She began to rise, feeling the water pushing her upwards, and Sandy opened her eyes to see a harsh light above her. _Is this it… after everything I have been through, am I going to die thanks to a sadistic fisherman? _

However, Sandy gathered speed, and she finally broke through the ocean surface into glorious sunlight. Blind and gagging for breathe, Sandy screamed as she flew forwards and slammed onto something solid, more grazes to join the rest of her wounds, and she coughed uncontrollably as a freezing cold engulfed her body. She vomited up more water than she had expected, and Sandy placed Weepinbell aside as she struggled to catch her breath. Other people were gagging on either side of her, and Sandy was reassured to know that Alaska and Mitchell had made it out alive.

"Of all… the bastards… we're fought… that guy… is completely… utterly… crazy!" Alaska yelled in between deep breathes. "Who… sends people… to drown… in the middle of the ocean!"

"He has lived… in that house… for years… it would make sense… if he was… a bit lonely… and… a bit… mad," Sandy suggested breathlessly as she looked towards Alaska. She was relieved that they had both survived, but Sandy was taken aback by the glare Alaska was shooting her, and it only made her remember the realisations she had come to during her battle.

"That guy is crazy, there is no excuse for that," Alaska replied angrily, and she stumbled to her feet, water dripping endlessly from her sodden clothes. "At least we have covered a lot of ground," she snarled sarcastically, and Sandy glanced up to see the little island with the ruined shack was far off in the distance, probably an hour's plus walk away. She had barely registered that they had been pushed so far or so fast, and it was a miracle they had managed to survive hitting the rocks or being underwater for so long. However, Sandy was not unscathed, and she began to examine her wounds; her dress was ruined, torn in a dozen places, her arms and legs had shallow but long cuts from the rocks and her chest felt so bruised that it was hurting to breathe. For the moment, she was not in too much pain, but Sandy was certain that would come later. _But at least I am alive! _

"H-h-how did we even s-survive?" A quiet voice mumbled to her left, and Sandy turned to find Mitchell huddled on the ground, shivering furiously, his eyes wide with fear.

_Of course, he was not as use to life threatening experiences as we are_, Sandy thought pitifully, and she looked around for their bags, spotting them a metre away. Sandy quickly opened them, but was dismayed to find they had all soaked through, everything inside completely saturated.

"Sorry Mitchell, but there is nothing dry for us to change into," Sandy said apologetically.

"Oh great, I g-g-get to freeze to death rather than dr-dr-drown!" Mitchell whined, and he threw his sodden shirt off without any shame or embarrassment around two older girls and lay on the path, letting the sun dry his pasty body.

"I think we may have been saved by that thing," Alaska said suddenly, and Sandy turned back to the ocean, the never ending canvas of blue suddenly calm as if three people nearly drowning had worn out the water. She was surprised to see something large and purple bobbing on the ocean's surface before them, and Sandy would have thought it a large, crusty rock if it wasn't for the smooth spike formations on the top and a sharper, grey one poking through the centre.

"Cloy," the rock thing mumbled, and it split open down the middle, revealing a perfectly round, purple-black head in amongst an inner grey shell, wearing an almost sinister smile across its nearly featureless face.

"It's a Cloyster!" Sandy exclaimed, and the Water type nodded in agreement. "It must have seen us in trouble and decided to save us! It could have used its own Surf to counter-act Gyarados'! Thank you Cloyster!" She cried, and extended a hand to shake before registering that Cloyster was still in the water and had no hands to shake either. Sandy caught Alaska rolling her eyes as she walked forwards and leaned over the edge.

"Thanks for, y'know, saving us all… that was pretty cool of you," she said, and the Cloyster nodded. "Is there any way we can repay you? We don't have much food, unless you want some brownies… or you could eat these lovely ruined clothes, they are nice and… fabricy…"

"CLOY!" Cloyster yelled while still looking at Alaska and smiling maliciously and Sandy thought it was going to attack. However, the water next it to rippled, and something shell shaped bobbed up to the surface. It was tiny and a richer shade of purple, with similar yet smaller spike-like mark on its back. This Pokemon opened down the middle as well but its shell lifted upwards, revealing a black face that stared out at them with wide, worried white eyes, with a long pink tongue that seemed almost as big as the rest of its body.

"That's a Shellder, yes?" Alaska asked, and a received a confirming nod from Sandy. "Did Shellder help us as well or something?"

"Cloyster! Cloy Cloy Cloy, Cloyster Cloy, Ster Ster Cloyster Cloy Cloy," Cloyster explained, and it then nudged Shellder forwards. Shellder appeared terrified, and it glanced frightfully back at Cloyster, whose smile softened as it nodded at the Pokemon, and Sandy gasped as she noticed the connection.

"I think Cloyster must be Shellder's parent, and it wants one of us to take Shellder with us," she explained. "I have heard of this happening before; while some Pokemon despise humans, others see their friends being captured and strive to follow after them. Cloyster must want a better life for its child," she explained, and smiled as Cloyster nodded once again, her frozen body feeling warm by the real life case of parental emotions in the Pokemon world. Shellder looked very nervous and uncertain, but Alaska bent down and leaned towards the ocean and scooped the Bivalve Pokemon up.

"Don't worry, I will give you a good home," she whispered, pulling Shellder in close and smiling affectionately. Sandy could see Shellder looked more relaxed now, but it still tried to turn back towards its parent. Alaska noticed and held Shellder out, and Cloyster moved closer. The Water-Ice type was no longer smiling, instead looking close to tears, and it nuzzled against the outstretched Shellder and whispered something.

"Shellder Shell Shell!" Shellder replied in a high pitch squeak, and Cloyster nodded one final time before turning emotionally away and beginning to descend beneath the waves.

_I wonder what it would have been like if I had had a proper goodbye with either of my parents, _Sandy thought as the tip of Cloyster's grey spikes disappeared forever. It had been so long since she had seen her father and even longer since seeing her mother and Sandy had no idea when she would see either again. She felt a tear forming, but she refused to cry over either of them, and she reached out and grabbed onto Weepinbell for comfort; the Flycatcher Pokemon looked deflated, undamaged by the Surf but still weary and beaten from her battle, and she would not last much longer.

"I am so proud of you! You deserve a nice, long rest!" Sandy said, and Weepinbell gave a weary nod before she dispersed into red energy and was sucked inside her Great Ball. Sandy hoped they still had some Potions left to get her back up to strength, but as she looked up to ask Alaska, she was surprised to see she now had a Great Ball in one hand whilst still holding onto the Shellder in the other.

"Why do you get to keep it?" Mitchell said indignantly from behind Sandy, his shiver beginning to disappear as he warmed up.

"Why not? Finder's keepers and I need a new Pokemon to replace Darwin," Alaska replied as if it was obvious. Sandy had been thinking along the same lines, as Alaska needed more than three Pokemon should she hope to win her remaining gym battles, but it was still irritating that she was acting without asking them first…

"That's rude Alaska! What if _I _wanted the Shellder or Sandy wanted it?" Mitchell snapped. "Don't be a bully!"

"Oh grow up Mitchell, this isn't the playground anymore!" Alaska growled back. "This is the real world, where you just have to accept the shit that comes your way rather than whinging about it! Be glad that missing out on a Pokemon is the worst thing to happen to you, rather than being shot at or nearly killed in tunnel collapses! Besides, based on what happened back there, you need to focus on training your own Pokemon rather than adding more sub-standard ones to your team!"

"Alaska!" Sandy gasped, looking back at a stunned Mitchell before turning back to her, shocked by her harsh words.

"What?" Alaska groaned. "He is being annoying! And he should not have battled Barney if he wasn't ready, and then we wouldn't have had to fight him!"

"Actually, _I_ was the one that fought him, not you!" Sandy retorted.

"Yeah, and look how well _that_ turned out!" Alaska said, and Sandy felt as if she had been slapped. She was not sure what to say to this, and it was clear Alaska was unware how hurtful her words were. Sandy was tempted to just sit down and ignore it and let Alaska win once more, but then all the angry thoughts she had had during her battle rushed back to her, and before Sandy knew it, she was turning back to face her friend.

"Well soooo-rry then Alaska! It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I apologise if my winning and nearly killing my Pokemon was not up to your usual standard! Would you have preferred if Barney's shack had exploded, or maybe I could have used Onix to make a sinkhole in the middle of the island? If I ever had the chance to train _my _Pokemon than I probably could have done a better job, and maybe cut off the water supply to rest of Kanto while I was at it; would _that_ be a win in your books?!" Alaska and Shellder both looked stunned, Mitchell gasped and even Sandy was surprised she voiced her feelings in this way. She was breathing deeply, the icy chill of her damp clothes feeling worse from her guilt, but she could not back down; it was now or never, and she had only just begun.

"What has gotten into you?" Alaska said after a few moments of shocked silence. "Where is any of this coming from?"

"The sidelines, Alaska! That's where I have been stuck for so long, just a spectator in this mad little adventure of yours!" Sandy yelled. "I am not a key player in any of this; I am just your lackey that is there to help out whenever you need me! I am there so your Pokemon can train with mine, I am there to help you plan strategies, I am there to dissect the events of the day when you feel like it, but half the time I have no clue what you're thinking! Gideon and all your blog readers probably know more about your intimate thoughts than I do! And frankly Alaska, I am sick of it!"

"So what are you saying, you want to battle Gideon for me now, do you?" Alaska hissed. "Do you want us to wrap up nice and tight in our sleeping bags and discuss robots and terrorist attacks in between painting our nails and doing each other's hair? This isn't some fun, girly little adventure anymore Sandy; there are bigger things at stake!"

"And I want to help you!" Sandy yelled. "I am your friend, I have been since the day I caught Onix, and I will be as long as you actually let me get involved in this, like you promised me after DiglettCave!"

"You need to accept there are some things I can't tell you Sandy!" Alaska snapped. "Some things are just too big for you to understand! Half of what is going on I don't even understand!"

"Then you can tell me those things! Maybe I might understand them, I am not as big of an idiot as you seem to think I am!"

"Well, frankly Sandy, I only met you because you fell from a tree and landed on top of me, what am I suppose to think!" Alaska yelled, but then she paused, eyes bulging as she heard what she said. "Sandy, I didn't mean –" She began, but the damage was done, a verbal knife rammed right into Sandy's heart that brought back a million horrible memories from her childhood.

"Oh no Alaska, you've said what you really think, you can't take it back now!" Sandy shouted back, her voice shaking slightly as tears formed in her eyes; she could not believe Alaska had just said that… her only friend in the world thought she was an idiot…

"Sandy, I don't want to argue anymore! Can you just drop this and we can go back to the way things were?" Alaska said pleadingly, but that was the last thing Sandy wanted to hear, and she could not help but screech like some possessed beast.

"NO! I am not going back to just being your simple sidekick that's getting dragged alone on this crazy, messed up roller coaster of a life you have! I don't want to remain on the sidelines, keeping quiet as I watch you stuff our lives up, biting my tongue least I offend you and get abused like I am right now! You may think this is a friendship Alaska, but for weeks it has been more like boss and employee! I bet you don't even know the first thing about me!"

"Hey, you can be just as cagey as me when it comes to your life!" Alaska snapped. "You act like I have all the secrets, but I know that you have not told me why you are really on this journey in the first place!"

"That's because you never properly asked! You're my friend, you should made me feel more supported if you expected me to tell you about the fact I had to run a –" Sandy froze at that, as this was not something she wanted to reveal in the middle of a shouting match. Alaska was staring at her in complete shock, and Sandy wondered if she had gone too far. Her rage had been silently building up for a while now that it was bound to come out eventually, but Sandy was instantly regretting the way she had gone about this.

"Ummm… ladies… we have some guests," Mitchell mumbled, and Sandy and Alaska both turned towards him. Standing behind a shaking, awkward looking Mitchell was a small crowd of people, staring intently at the two girls. The majority of them were burly men carrying massive video cameras, oversized bags, fluffy microphones on sticks called booms and various other technological devices, their expressions ranging from stunned to uncertainty. However, standing amongst them were three teenagers that did not belong with them, two boys and a girl, and it took a second for an angry, confused Sandy to recognise these faces she had not seen for weeks.

"Oh hell no," Alaska hissed, and Chloe Carmichael tipped back her head and laughed.

"Oh hell _yes_!" She purred viciously. "Now, if you two have stopped your little screaming bitch fest, can we pick up were we left off last time?" And before Alaska or Sandy could react, Chloe sprinted forwards, a manic look on her face and PokeBalls clutched in her talon-like nails, screaming as she jumped towards Alaska…

**They were always going to come back eventually! Only two chapters left for this arc before probably the biggest and one of the most important interludes yet!**


	79. Chapter 58: A Dose of Reality

It has been a month, I am aware, but I have stayed up late in order to complete this chapter so that there will at least be one update this month, and I can move on myself and get started on the rest of my backlog that is now months behind. Hope you enjoy, this arc ends next chapter.

**Chapter Fifty Eight: A Dose of Reality **

"CHLOE, NO!" A voice said firmly from behind the manic blonde, and Damian lunged forwards, grabbing onto his co-star just as she sent the PokeBalls flying. Chloe spun around and slapped him hard across the face, the sound echoing across the otherwise silent boardwalk, but Sandy was more focussed on the PokeBalls hurtling through the air towards them; the red and white capsules burst open, and Sandy leapt backwards as four Pokemon began to form around her and Alaska.

"Ivy, Ivysaur Ivy!" A green Pokemon snarled the second it had formed, four thick vines extending out from beneath a blossoming pink flower bud on its back. _That's Bulbasaur's evolved form Ivysaur, _Sandy thought fearfully, and she glanced around at the other Pokemon advancing for them. _There's her Spearow and Clefairy, they should have evolved by now, it has been so long… and is that a Vulpix? _She asked herself, looking down at a red furred Pokemon with curled locks over its dark eyes. _A Fire type, the Fox Pokemon, evolves into Ninetales, capable of shooting flames at us… _

"Shellder Shell!" A quiet voice emitted, and Sandy turned, having completely forgotten about the Shellder nestling in Alaska's arms. The Water type pushed itself out of Alaska's arms and landed in front of the opposing Pokemon, displaying a sudden eagerness for battle Sandy had not expected.

"Saur Ivy!" Ivysaur growled. Sandy had never seen one in real life before and could not help analysing it; it largely resembled a bigger Bulbasaur, but the Pokemon had an angrier face and the green bud on its back had changed, opening up into four leaves with a pink bud in the very middle.

"Vul Vul Vulpix!" Vulpix called from her left, an adorable Pokemon that could almost pass for a pampered pet with its curled maroon tails and soft paws, but Sandy cried out as the Fire type arced its back and unleashed a jet of amber flames.

"SHELL!" Shellder cried before stretching its mouth open wide; a rapid stream of bubbles came flying out, hitting Vulpix's attack and causing it to diminish into steam. As vapours began to shroud the Pokemon, Shellder turned towards her other opponents and began firing out a rainbow coloured beam that shone in the light.

"SPEAROOOOOW!" Spearow squawked as it received the brunt of the Aurora Beam, and a slightly frozen sheen covered her body. Ivysaur grumbled and it lashed out with his four vines, and Sandy flinched as one headed right towards her…

"That's enough!" Damian suddenly shouted, and Sandy opened her eyes. Before her suddenly stood Damian's Charmeleon; the red Fire type was taller and more muscular than Ivysaur, the flame on the tip of his tail burning bold and bright. The Flame Pokemon was staring menacingly down at his comrade, and reluctantly Ivysaur retracted his vines, stepping backwards and signalling for his team mates to follow his lead.

"For god's sake, can't we meet once without trying to maim and kill each other?" Damian yelled exasperatedly as he stood neutrally between the two sides, Chloe's Pokemon shuffling past him. Sandy could breathe calmly now, but she was unnerved at how easily she had been frightened. _Can I really be blamed? I can't even walk down the street without getting shot…_

"You can't blame me for any of this Damian!" Chloe shrieked, struggling against Lachlan's grip as he tried to hold her back. "It was those bitches that did all the damage last time! Look at my nose, _look at my stitches_!" She hissed.

"Stitches?" Sandy whispered confoundedly to Alaska, and the black haired girl turned with a slight smirk on her face.

"You really were off your face, weren't you?" Alaska sniggered. Sandy was perplexed by this, but she thought back to the evening at the bar, remembering the overly alcoholic drink she had taken, and the pieces she could hazily remember rushed back to her, creating an incomplete, unattractive puzzle of events: the reality stars entering, the insults, the cat fight, for some reason Sandy remembered sending Onix out, and then Chloe had been about to seriously injure Alaska, and Sandy had a blurred, alcohol-blinded memory of raising an empty glass above her head…

"OH MY GOSH!" She shrieked. "CHLOE, I AM SO SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I ONLY JUST REMEMBERED, DO YOU NEED ME TO PAY FOR YOUR HOSPITAL BILLS, I COULD IF –"

"Oh please, she had one tiny stitch that was only in for about three days, one of these guys put it in," Lachlan replied, gesturing to the burly camera operators behind him, and he smirked even as Chloe gave him her evil eyes. However, the blonde seemed to have been calmed now, and she stopped fighting against her co-star, instead simply glaring across at Alaska.

"What are you _whores_ even doing here anyway?" She snarled. "We thought you were going to Saffron, that's what you said on your blog!"

"Maybe I lied," Alaska replied with acid. "There are a few nasty, manipulative little cows out there pathetically following my every move in quite a creepy way, and some of them I really didn't want to deal with." Chloe made a sort of grumbling noise, and her Ivysaur looking ready to advance again, but Alaska ignored them as she scooped up Shellder. Sandy had noticed that her friend had not really reacted to the sudden appearance of the reality stars as quickly or as viciously as she had in the past, and she could not help but wonder why.

"Whatever the reason why we're all here, I am sure we can get along… for once," Damian said with a forced smile. "Do we really need to destroy this walkway or create a tsunami over some silly squabble?" He added jokingly, though based on the look Chloe was wearing, Sandy wouldn't be surprised if she did end up having to flee from another metre high wave.

"Oh please, you can't stop these two; they've hated each other for _years_!" Another voice suddenly chimed in, and Sandy felt instantly guilty as she realised it was Mitchell, the young trainer being completely forgotten. The ten year old leapt to his feet, his wet shirt hanging over his shoulder, dripping down his pale back. All eyes were suddenly on him, but Mitchell stared around unfazed and unashamed at everyone before walking towards over to his bag.

"As much as I wouldn't mind the protection, I also don't want to get nearly killed again," Mitchell explained to no one in particular. "I always seem to nearly get killed when I'm near Alaska, and considering how much she and Chloe hate each other, I think there is a high chance that will happen," he added with an almost cheerful smile as he turned to Sandy and Alaska. "Nice seeing you two again, but I'm off," he finished simply, and turned and walked towards the camera operators, his sodden bag bouncing against his back. They all parted to let him pass, and Sandy smirked, impressed by Mitchell's spirit as the men merged back into their group and the ten year old disappeared from their lives once more.

"We need to get back to filming," one of the cameramen, a thin, blonde haired man, said as he gazed down at his watch. "We have a schedule to stick to, so if we can –"

"Stuff the schedule, I'm done!" Chloe hissed, and she broke free of Lachlan's hold and marched back the way they had come, forcing the crew to part again for her and her team.

"Chloe, we have to!" The thin cameraman wailed and he raced after. The other crew members had clearly lost interest in their cause and followed after, leaving only Sandy, Alaska, Damian, Lachlan, Shellder and Charmeleon behind.

"Sooooo…. what way are you going?" Damian asked with a touch of awkwardness.

"The same way you are, apparently," she replied, cutting in before Alaska decided they would face Barney again just to avoid Chloe. Sandy turned and smiled at her to get her to agree, and Alaska reluctantly nodded, her face showing little excitement.

_Let her be angry, even though she has no right to be, _Sandy thought as she grabbed her own bag and marched off without another word. _She is always angry with someone, so let glare at me and glare at Chloe and then we will just move on and she will forget all about our argument, that's how it always goes! _It had been a struggle enough voicing her feelings this time, and Sandy did not think she could do it again. She wanted to work out their issues, and she was certain they could have ended it now if the reality stars had not re-entered their lives.

"Hey there," someone said, and Sandy nearly jumped as she turned, half expecting it to be some new threat. However, she was relieved, albeit a bit surprised, to see it was just Lachlan, smiling pleasantly as he jogged to keep up with her.

"Hello," Sandy replied with a forced smile, realising she had sped off in her rage and slowed down. She tried to remember if she had ever spoken to the boy with the red-brown hair before, but Sandy quickly realised that she had never actually spoken to any of the stars on her own, simply watching in the background as Alaska tried to prove herself, get revenge, be catty for the sake of cattiness, whatever was fuelling her motivations that time around. _Surely they must have some personality_

"We haven't been properly introduced, have we? Even though we battled," Lachlan said, smiling awkwardly. "I'm Lachlan Lynch, but you can call me Lachy," he continued as he stretched out a hand.

"Sandy," Sandy replied, reluctantly shaking back.

"So, how was the water?" Lachlan asked, smirking slightly, and Sandy raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Your clothes… they're really damp," Lachlan explained. "Let me guess, you tried fishing and got pulled in by a Gyarados?" He chuckled.

"Close actually; a fisherman tried to kill us by getting his Gyarados to force us into the water," Sandy replied with hefty bitterness.

"Oh… sorry," Lachlan replied sheepishly. Sandy turned and saw how awkward he now looked, and she sighed before coming to a stop.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so rude, it has just been a long day," she replied, smiling wearily. Lachlan nodded before glancing awkwardly backwards; Sandy copying him and spotting Alaska and Damian walking slowly behind them.

"We all heard your argument… unintentionally, of course," Lachlan explained. "I am guessing your friendship is getting a few cracks, eh?"

"You could put it that way," Sandy answered coldly, though she did not want to keep going over things when she could not actually talk to Alaska. Instead, she focussed on the route ahead; the walkway was finally nearing its end, moving closer to the tree-covered banks to their right and Sandy could see it turned a corner up ahead, leading back towards solid land – hopefully with no fishermen.

"How is the show going?" She asked, hoping for something to distract her from her own issues. The lanky boy shrugged with a look of bored indifference across his face.

"Same old, same old I guess," he mumbled in response. "We travel, eat and sleep, and then we film the stuff for the competition. Every second day we shoot a challenge where we have to complete some task to win bonus prizes, and then every other day we have training exercises and battle each other to get more points. We have been doing the same thing for the past few weeks or months, however long this has been, I've stopped keeping track."

"How come?" Sandy asked. She had only caught a few minutes of Indigo Dreams while staying at the Athlew Mansion, an episode based around Cerulean City, but it had seemed like a lively and entertaining show, the type of thing she'd watch if she was still at home and had no idea what had gone on behind the scene.

"I dunno, it's just not quite what I expected when I signed up to do this," Lachlan replied with a bored shrug. "They focus more on Chloe and Damian then they do on me, I am sort of just along for the ride."

_I know the feeling, _Sandy thought bitterly, but she was not going to make this about her. "What about all the training experience you get, and the fact you get to be on a journey towards the Pokemon League?" Lachlan turned and raised his eyebrows at her, smirking as they trumped along the concrete and neared the bend.

"Please, this thing is so rigged you'd think we were trapeze artists," he scoffed. "They don't keep track of the scores, Amanda basically just hands them out to which ever one of us she feels like giving them to, more often then not Chloe, and they edit the show to back up her decisions. They never show any of the stuff that involves Alaska, like that giant Beedrill or when she showed up at Mt Moon, they make us re-film the challenges and there ends up being different winners. It's as if they don't even care about us, they just want ratings or something…" His cheerful yet sarcastic tone faded as Lachlan finished his story, and he sounded rather deflated and dejected by the time he stopped talking. Sandy could understand his emotions; it must be crushing to sign up for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like this only to find out it is nothing as you expected it to be.

_Though I guess the same has happened to me, _she thought grumpily. The two walked in silence around the corner, and Sandy was relieved to find they had reached the end of the walkway. The past few days wandering almost aimlessly down the miles of walkway had been frustrating and depressing, and she could only hope the rest of their journey to Fuchsia would spice things up.

Her first step back onto dry land did not hold any exciting promises: Sandy and Lachlan stepped onto a long and nearly empty field, enclosed on the right and up ahead by trees untouched by human hands. There were some fences dotted around for reasons Sandy was not sure, though she could easily tell from the number of tents, collapsible tables and heavy black boxes that Indigo Dreams had set up here for the day.

"We've only been here a few hours," Lachlan said. "We were filming a training exercise when we ran into you guys, and we're doing a challenge with the fences tomorrow. Not quite sure what we are going to do now Chloe's stormed off, Amanda will have to reschedule." Sandy looked, wondering if Mitchell was still near, but the ten year old boy had taken off in a hurry and was nowhere in sight. She did notice the camera crew a few metres away, all of them delicately placing their expensive equipment in piles by one tent before roughly collapsing into folding seats alongside a table loaded with fruit, doughnuts and sandwiches. The show was clearly settled here for a few days, and Sandy was reassured by that; it would give her and Alaska more time to place some distance between them all, more of a chance to be alone and sort everything out…

"So, are you two going to carry on to Fuchsia?" Lachlan asked as if he had been reading her mind. Sandy was going to say 'yes', but she paused, listening out for Alaska's distant footsteps behind them. They had travelled all this way, had all their training battles, nearly died at Barney's hands all so they could make it to Fuchsia and face Janine. Sandy was willing to stick to this goal, but it was all up to Alaska at this point; she had voiced her feelings, she had made herself very clear how she felt, and now Alaska had to decide how to respond. Only then would Sandy know if she was carrying onwards with her partner, or retreating home, finally admitting that her father had been right all along…  
"I really have no idea Lachy, not a single clue," Sandy mumbled finally, unable to hide the depression in her voice, and she felt a cold chill running through her body.

"Well, you want some food?" Lachlan asked uneasily. "We always have enough to feed an army!" Sandy was not sure about taking food from the reality show, but now that the thought had been put out there, she realized that she indeed felt a bit peckish, and she felt wrong rejecting Lachlan when he was being so kind.

"Why not!" She replied, smiling broadly, and Lachlan led her towards the table. The camera men and sound operators glanced briefly at them before returning to their plates, and Sandy wondered how weird it must be travelling around the region with these burly men following you, recording your every move. She could only imagine the strangeness of having a camera crew follow her and Alaska, documenting every explosion, every mistake, every weird thing that happened…

"WHAT?!" Someone suddenly shrieked from within the largest tent, and Sandy froze, her hand hovering just about a plate of chocolate covered doughnuts. Everyone turned to the mass of black fabric as the flaps were sent flying open, and out stomped Amanda Anderson, followed closely behind by Chloe and the thin cameraman. The thin, well-kept producer was impeccably dressed as always, wearing a charcoal coloured pencil skirt and matching blazer, her long hair done up in a tight bun with a stick to keep it in place. However, Sandy could not help but notice that all this effort went to waste with the furious look plastered across her face; Amanda looked as murderous as Chloe had a short time ago, her features horribly twisted as she leered at everyone, looking for the people that had ruined her day.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Amanda shrieked as soon as her beady eyes spotted Sandy, and the blonde leapt backwards as if electrocuted, nearly knocking the plate over in the process. The producer stalked towards her, high heels squelching in the mud as she moved, and Sandy gulped, glancing nervously at a stunned Lachlan.

"What do you think you are doing here? I do not want you or your psycho friend anywhere near this production, not after what you did to a third of our talent!" Amanda hissed, her tight skin being stretched almost beyond its capacity by the furious flexing of her mouth. Sandy usually would have buckled under someone as frightening and threatening as this, and perhaps even a few days ago she would have apologised and fled for the hills. However, Sandy looked into that furious, twisted face glaring down at her, and she could not help but notice vague similarities between the woman looming over her and the friend only a few metres away; dark hair, pale skin, nearly identical in height, even their names had only a few consonants difference. Sandy could feel her rage from earlier risen up, and she straightened her back as she glared back at the producer.

"I am sorry Ms Anderson, but I do believe this is a public place and the only route going in this direction. You may manage this shoddy production, but you are not in control of who can and cannot walk through a public field!" She snapped, startling the producer. "I will gladly not touch your food if she wish, but considering I do not have much of my own left, I am sure the media would be _very_ interested to know why a poor, starving trainer was denied a meal by your show!" In the background Chloe looked like she had been slapped, and Lachlan bulged his eyes in surprise, but Sandy took her greatest pleasure in watching Amanda's twisted face sink, her features straightening out, yet her eyes widen, her mouth fell slightly ajar, exposing unnaturally white teeth that clashed with her jet black hair. Sandy hated being spiteful towards other people, but she could remember the incident with the Clefairy at Mt Moon, the way the bitch before her had acted, it was greatly pleasing to be able to get some form of revenge against her.

"Very well then," Amanda said after a few tense moments, glancing awkwardly at the crew, who were struggling to stifle their laughter. "Have however much you want, but I want you and your friend gone by five."

"Don't worry, we will be," Alaska called, and Sandy glanced around as her travelling partner approached the table, giving Amanda a broad smile as she picked up a plate. "Hello Mandy, how's the show going?"

"Fine thank you, it has been a pleasant few weeks since we last saw you, we actually managed to film some content without something blowing up," Amanda replied icily.

"Well Mandy, we all know what the general public is like; gotta give them something new in order to tune in, am I right?" Alaska smirked as she piled as much food as she could onto her tiny plate. Amanda's eyes narrowed briefly, but she managed to get herself under control before turning away, whipping a phone out of her pocket and marching for the tent.

"Richard, meet me in here in five, we will arrange something new to film," she barked at the skinny cameraman before going inside and disappearing from view. The second she was gone Chloe wheeled towards Alaska, angrily snatching a plate.

"You should be afraid Alaska, very afraid!" The blonde hissed. "My Pokemon are getting stronger by the day, and when I get the opportunity to battle you, you will definitely be sorry!"

"I'm shaking in my boots," Alaska replied sarcastically.

"I wouldn't be surprised, those look far too poor to provide much warmth," Chloe snapped, and she began gathering food, not giving Alaska the chance for a final word. The black haired teenager simply smirked and glanced back at Damian, who smiled and laughed in a handsome manner.

_Why are these two suddenly so buddy?_ Sandy thought with a touch of bitterness. _I haven't seen her smile at me like that. One stroll down the boulevard means you've got a new bestie? Well two can play at this game!_

"Over there looks comfortable," Sandy said to Lachlan, and she quickly walked towards a small boulder with a relatively smooth surface, her plate loaded with doughnuts, fruit and bread rolls. Lachlan followed and they sat down against the carved piece of rock, facing away from the tents and looking out at the ocean. The sea seemed bigger here, a never ending stretch of blue heading to the horizon. Sandy's clothes were still wet and she felt a chill run through her body as she imagined where she may have ended up her had Cloyster not come to the rescue.

"So after Fuchsia, do you think you will go back up to Saffron or head over to Viridian?" Lachlan asked, spraying chocolaty crumbs everywhere as he spoke.

"You forgot about Cinnabar," Sandy said, only half paying attention as she thought about the ocean, Alaska and Amanda al at once.

"Phwhat?" Lachlan mumbled, his mouth too fill of food to make proper sound. Sandy looked at him, his cheeks puffed out, crammed fill of chocolate and bread, and she laughed. It felt so good to let such a joyful noise escape her lips, something so much happier and freer than what she had felt recently. Lachlan raised an eyebrow in puzzlement, which only made him look funnier and reduced Sandy to further fits of laughter, nearly choking on her food as her stomach heaved.

"Are you alright?" Lachlan asked cautiously once he had swallowed, by which time Sandy had managed to control herself.

"I'm sorry… I have not had much to laugh about lately," she replied, blushing slightly but still giggling. She expected Lachlan to be weirded out, but instead he sighed and nodded.

"I know the feeling," he said in a soft voice. "I thought this show would be fun when we began, but we seriously have not done anything that exciting; just battling and sleeping, that's it! I'd like to be friends with Damian, but it feels really uncomfortable when people are recording every conversation you have, or they try and get you to discuss certain topics and say certain things, just to make everything more exciting." He turned to Sandy, his eyes swimming with water, and the blonde was completely taken aback.

"I wish I had never even auditioned for this show, I had no idea why I was even chosen!" Lachlan whispered, all sense of joking joy completely disappearing. "My mum suggested I do it, she thought it might be a fun experience, something I would remember for years to come. I've wanted to go on a journey for years, but it never seemed feasible money-wise until this opportunity arose. When they hired me I was over the moon, but it became quite apparent from the start we'd have very little freedom, that every movement would be monitored, that everything we did would be watched, processed and changed. I really hate this whole thing at times Sandy, I really do!"

"Oh Lachlan, I'm so sorry!" Sandy said, feeling partly obliged to say so but was taken aback by his frank admission. Lachlan turned to her, his body shaking slightly, and Sandy felt almost afraid.

"They have literally cut Alaska out of _everything_! No assigns of her, no signs of you, nothing! I swear to you Sandy, something is going on with this. I know she stuffs things up, but the way Amanda acts whenever you guys leave, whispering into her phone, shouting at everyone – it's as if you guys are ruining some great big plan of theirs!" Lachlan paused, looking back at everything for a second, before placing his plate on the ground and walked towards the edge of the land. A tense silence fell between them, the distant sounds of the crew creeping over. Sandy had no idea what to say; to his theory, to his feelings, it was too much to process.

A loud laugh sounded from behind, and Sandy glanced back to see Alaska cackling at some joke of Damian's. She watched her for a moment, waiting and wondering, and finally Alaska looked her way, the laughter fading from her face almost instantly. For a second the two exchanged a long glare, but Lachlan suddenly reappeared, sighing as he flopped back down, forcing Sandy to look away. The animosity was still there, the anger and the rage, yet as Sandy looked at the once joyful boy slouching on the rock beside her, slowing stuffing his face with the broken remnants of a jam filled doughnut, she could only wonder if she really had it worst.


	80. Chapter 59: The Tale of Sandy Samson

**Chapter Fifty Nine: The Tale of Sandy Samson**

After the day Sandy had had, night could not come quick enough.

The last few hours flew past faster than anything else that week, and Sandy savoured the time she spent simply laying on the cool grass, letting the sea breeze wash over her as the clouds soared above her. She watched the sky as it turned from baby blue to bright pink, fading into a rich purple before settling upon inky blackness, pale clouds replaced with dazzling stars that flickered as she watched. It was so simple and so peaceful, a proper break away from all the robots, the shootings, the explosions, the drama; Sandy felt like she was on cloud nine, sitting with Lachlan, eating cold pasta stolen from the catering, laughing about Chloe and Amanda. She almost forgot that Alaska was only a few metres away, talking to Damian whilst their Pokemon played amongst the grass. Occasionally, Sandy turned towards her friend, wondering what she and Damian were discussing in their hushed voices, but these looks only lasted a few seconds before Sandy decided she didn't want to know, not until Alaska was ready to finish their discussion…

As day slipped into night, the sun melting away into the ocean, it became clear Amanda had arranged some new activity as she began ordering the workers to arrange a series of ramps and obstacles around the field. Sandy watched as portable spotlights were turned on, illuminating them all with a harsh cream glow, and Chloe reappeared from her tent, Ivysaur and Vulpix already at her side as she prepared for the task ahead.

"I'd better head off," Sandy said, her peaceful day ending just like that. Even though she did not care what Amanda thought, Sandy was not keen on lingering around longer than necessary and facing the producer's wrath.

"That is a shame, they were only just starting to bond," Lachlan said dejectedly, and the trainers glanced at their Pokemon; Sandy had sent out Butterfree, Pichu and her newly evolved Weepinbell to play with Lachlan's Wartortle, Geodude and Growlithe. The … Pokemon was having the most fun, chasing the others around as they played some sort of Tag game. It was the sort of fun Sandy's Pokemon had not had for a few weeks now, as they only saw Alaska's Pokemon when it came time to battle.

Sandy got up and called her Pokemon over, giving them a chance to stay goodbye before they were withdrawn. Lachlan stood with her, and for a moment they stood awkwardly in silence, not sure what to say. After his tearful admission earlier the two had kept to tamer topics like battle strategies and favourite things, and Sandy had enjoyed chatting to someone new for the first time in months. She was dreading meeting up with Alaska once again, and she was tempted to stay with Lachlan and chat for the rest of the night, but there was no way that could happen with Amanda Anderson hovering about nearby.

"I'd better get ready," Lachlan said, breaking the tension but sounding uncomfortable in doing so.

"Yeah…," Sandy replied, equally as awkward. Butterfree appeared beside her, Pichu on her back and Weepinbell grasped between her blue hands. "Hey guys, make some new friends?" She asked, and there was a chorus of happy cries from the trio before her. "We will have to play with these guys again some time!" She added, smiling slyly at Lachlan before grabbing her PokeBalls.

"So there's going to be a next time, eh?" Lachlan asked in a teasing voice, and Sandy simply smirked as her three Pokemon dispersed into energy.

"Well, I'd like there to be a next time," she replied, grinning. "It has been nice talking to another person without there being a homicidal maniac in the background to deal with, and I think we'd all enjoy doing it again. "

"I'd like that too," Lachlan said, his joking smile softening. The two looked at each other for a moment, not sure what else to say, but their tension was broken for them; Growlithe rushed forwards and jumped into Lachlan's arms, nearly bowling him over, and at the same time the lanky cameraman called out for the brown haired boy to join them.

"You'd better go," Sandy said, her heart wrenching at losing this connection, knowing she may never get this opportunity again. "Bye," she finished, and turned away before her emotions got the better of her. She heard Lachlan call out his own farewell, his own voice soft and mournful, but Sandy forced herself to keep moving forwards.

It was not until she had left Lachlan behind that Sandy realised how much of the field the show had taken up, nor how many crew members there were. She could feel the grass rubbing against her knees as she walked through the stretch of green, yet the strangest feeling was that of all these eyes upon her. Sandy saw the crew pause in their actions to glimpse at her, over a dozen of them turning and following her. Chloe's Ivysaur snarled at her presence, attracting his trainer's attention, who gave Sandy an equally ugly look. Damian was the only sympathetic face in this crowd, offering Sandy a soft smile as he tended to Charmeleon, but he quickly looked away without properly greeting her. There was the swish of fabric amongst all this, and Sandy could not help but turn to face Amanda one final time. The producer stood beside her tent, her face so stony it rivalled Geodude's, phone clutched to her ear once more. Sandy mockingly smiled, but Amanda's mouth moved only to offer two words to the mobile, and Sandy almost shivered as she read those glossy, ruby red lips; _it's done. _

She quickly left the obstacle course behind, but as she walked down the empty route, Sandy still felt unsettled. Darkness enclosed her as she left the spotlights comforting glow, creeping up and engulfing her from all sides. She could hear the distant turning of turbines from a wind farm down the coastline, a sound that in this silent, unmoving night was almost threatening. Trees swayed as nocturnal Pokemon rose from between trunks and branches to begin their nightly journeys, and Sandy nervously eyed the forest rows, standing like sentinels looming above her, watching, judging.

She soon found that Alaska had already set up the tent; the triangle of black fabric was starting to bear the marks of a long journey, with several holes and cuts appearing, a slight dip on the right side from a broken support bar and plenty of mud caking the bottoms, but it was the closest thing Sandy had to a home right now, even if she did not want to step inside right now.

_I left my old home to get away from someone I didn't want to be, and now I am in the exact same situation on the opposite side of Kanto. Only this time there's nowhere else to hide… _Sandy stared at the flaps fluttering in the night wind blowing in from the sea, wondering what version of Alaska she would find in there; the happy, joking Alaska she had known at the start, the worried, silent Alaska that kept things to herself, or the angry, unpredictable Alaska that had to prove herself to the world? Sandy looked at the ocean, the waves crashing into the land like liquid coal, and she was tempted to leap back in and see how far she'd get this time, but she knew that would not solve her problems – for better or for worse, it was time to face Alaska.

Silence greeted Sandy as she stepped inside. The tent had just enough room for both of them and their bags but little head room, forcing Sandy to drop to her knees and crawl towards her half. Alaska was setting up her sleeping bag, her back turned and no sign of recognition that her friend had entered.

"Everything is still damp," she said suddenly, her voice half its normal volume and Sandy paused in the process of getting her own sleeping bag. "My laptop and that blasted gun managed to survive, but all my clothes are saturated."

"Mine too," Sandy replied softly, her voice cracking slightly. She began to arrange her own area, unfurling the soggy sleeping bag and realising too late that it would be too difficult to actually sleep in. It squelched as she moved it, and Alaska turned briefly.

"I could send Paige out, she could use Heat Wave to dry all our stuff," she suggested, and even reached for her PokeBall. Sandy went to respond but she paused, her hands resting on the damp, squishy surface of the sleeping bag. Alaska's words stirred up a year old memory in the back of her mind, and Sandy shut her eyes as it came back to her; she was standing in her back yard, feet planted firmly on the hard ground, eyes watching intently as a Metapod tried and failed to fire String Shot at a tree five metres away. It had been dusk, the sky the colour of a ripe peach, the evening call of gathering Pidgey echoing all around her.

"_You've been out here for an hour and that thing still hasn't gotten a direct hit!"_

"_She's trying Dad; just give her have a chance." _

"_For god's sake Sandy – you whinge and moan about wanting to be a trainer, but you can't even teach a Metapod to use its only attack!"_

"Sandy, are you alright?"

"_You realise you will kill that Pokemon if you try to use it in battle, don't you?!"_

"_No Dad, I swear I can train her! Metapod, use Str –"_

"_Don't bloody bother, you pathetic green shit! This little idiot is never going to get you anywhere in life. It is a bloody miracle you made it this far without dying, but you can look forward to spending the rest of your life as some immobile, inactive invalid!" _

"_Daddy, you are making her cry!" _

"Sandy?"

"_It's crying, is it? Well let's see how much it cries when it can't even protect itself!" Sandy screamed at that point as her father stepped towards Metapod, his foot raised about her glossy green skin, ready to bring his foot down…_

"_POD POD!" Metapod yelled, and String Shot was fired directly into Jack Samson's face. He stumbled backwards and tripped over a rotting deck chair, and Sandy sprinted forwards and scooped up her Pokemon. Without another thought, she ran for the trees, sending a trio of Spearow soaring into the clouds as she fled into the safety of the forest._

"_It's okay Metapod, he won't hurt you, he won't hurt you, he won't hurt you…," Sandy whispered repeatedly, believing her words for a second, but there was an angry shout from behind, and Sandy shed a silent tear slid, unable to avoid her fate for much longer…_

"Sandy, what's going –"

"If I want to dry my sleeping bag, I will find a way myself," Sandy whispered in response, her hands angrily clutching the purple fabric of her sleeping bag, threatening to tear it in half. She could hear Alaska awkwardly shuffling on her sleeping bag, unable to react to this, and Sandy could almost laugh. "Wow… for once, you don't actually have a response!" She said, struggling not to collapse into hysterics. She turned to face her friend, and for the first time in hours Sandy found herself staring Alaska straight in the eyes; there was a mix of confusion and anger in her beady black pupils, an awkward expression that covered her whole face. Sandy savoured knocking her down a peg, but at the same time she regretted the fact they were in this situation, their friendship being backed into a corner with only two possible solutions to get out of it…

"Sandy, what's brought this anger on?" Alaska asked after a minute. "I'm really confused; everything seemed fine this morning! What's changed since then to make you get so angry with me?" Sandy glared at her, stunned by her friend's ignorance, and for a second she wanted to shout, unleash her built up rage and let Alaska have it. However, Sandy could see the confusion on her friend's face, and she knew getting angry was not going to solve this. She sighed and leaned back against the tent, feeling a cool breeze seeping in through a hole. Sandy had no idea where to begin or how to word any of this, but she had been letting her story build up for months now, hiding beneath the surface, waiting for her to get the courage to tell Alaska the details. She had wanted the right moment to say all this, and there was no better time than now.

"When I was a little girl, my mum left us – me and my dad, that is," Sandy began, choosing to look at the swishing tent flap, unable to face her friend yet. She sensed Alaska tensing up for a moment, but than felt the tug of the tent as the black haired girl leaned back, waiting and listening. "Isabella was her name; she named me after her grandmother. I only have memories of her being happy; she was tall, blonde, a smile permanently on her face. Nearly everything I remember about her is at our local park, where we always went for little adventures through the trees, by the boulders…

"According to my dad, she fell out of love of him and instead with some work colleague. I can't even remember what her job was meant to be, or if she even worked – I wouldn't be surprised if my father stretched the truth in order to back up his story. Either way, one day she was there and the next she wasn't. My last memory of her is going to the local park for what was the final time; we had ice cream by this little pond and watched as a gaggle of Swanna bobbed on the surface. I remember they were so beautiful, just like my mother…

"After she left, it was just me and my dad. He was a miner at Victory Road, keeping the path clear for all the trainers coming through. He had longer hours, so I was on my own a lot after school, and when he got home he would have to cook and clean and do all the jobs mum use to do. He insisted on doing these things on his own so his family and friends wouldn't interfere, but even at a young age I knew he couldn't cope with it all. It was not a pleasant environment to live in, so that's why I began my bubbly, beaming persona. I pretended everything in the world was perfect and happy so I did not have to think about the pain my dad was going through." Sandy paused for a moment, needing to catch her breath, her throat going dry. She felt Alaska shuffle, sensed she was about to say something, and Sandy forced herself to carry on, even though she felt like crying.

"After a while, my dad began to lose it a bit; his salary got cut, so he drank more to get over his pain. Sometimes he would stay out for the whole night, I have no idea where but we're both grown up enough to take a guess. He became abusive at times… whenever the subject came up of me going on a journey, he would scoff and say I wasn't ready and never would be. Last year, I found a Caterpie on my windowsill, I think trying to get to this flower I kept on my bedside table. My dad let me keep it, but it only made me want to go travelling more, and made him keep telling me I would never be ready…

"In the end… I ran away… I just took off, and I haven't been back sense. I haven't written or spoken to him for two months, he could have drunk himself to death after and I wouldn't know. When Metapod evolved into Butterfree, I knew I could not stay there any longer. I had to leave… I just had to…

"Half the time I don't know why I am travelling any more. I left so I could finally go on my own journey, so I could train my Pokemon and experience the world. I never signed up to take part in gym battles though my father never would have let me, so by the time I reached Viridian Forest I was beginning to realise there was not a lot of point in carrying on. I decided I would climb the tallest tree I could find and look across at the world before I trudged back home. I will tell you Alaska, before you are done with all this, you need to look across this glorious region of ours; I saw everything from Pewter in the north to Pallet in the south, I saw as far west as Cerulean and I gazed at the skyscrapers of Saffron in the distance. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, and I thought retreating back home and admitting defeat would have been worth it, just because I managed to see that view.

"Then, when I went to climb down, the branch snapped beneath my feet, and I fell from the tree and into this amazing journey. After I met you, after battling Chloe and Lachlan and that very first robot, I knew I wanted to keep travelling. I realised then that there was more to this world than I knew, and that if I stopped in that forest I would not know what was really out there. Even though I nearly died, I never would have experienced the thrill of battling that robot if I hadn't run away, and I could not let myself miss out on another opportunity like that. So I made carried on, knowing everything would be worth it if I could see some more amazing sights like that. Then I met you again, I caught my second Pokemon, and I was determined that this journey would be amazing.

"But… but now Alaska… I feel like I am your sidekick, being dragged along with you and simply witnessing _your_ amazing journey. I have seen some amazing things – watching you battle is simply breath taking – but I have nearly been killed more times than I can count. I would have died in the middle of a road in Lavender Town if there hadn't been some bloody ghost there to save me. Alaska… when I lay there, the darkness closing in as my body shut down, I thought 'what is the point of this? Why was I standing there when the gun was fired?' Dying might have been worthwhile if I had done something to stop Gideon and the robots, but I haven't been allowed to help you Alaska, that's the problem! I left home so I could experience the world, but how am I supposed to enjoy any of this when it feels like I am still living with my father and being treated like I cannot do anything, sacrificing myself for a cause you won't let me help you with!"

Finally Sandy stopped talking, unable to carry on. She wanted something to soothe her throat, but first she had to look at Alaska, unable to put it off any longer. However, her friend did not meet her eyes; Alaska was staring down at the sodden floor of their tent, still and silent, letting the weight of these words wash over her. Sandy had nothing more to say for now, and she waited, waited for her friend to say something, to defend, to argue, to blame, to admit, Sandy had no idea how she would react. She simply waited and wondered, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, but part of lingered as she waited for Alaska's reaction.

"Do you think I enjoy not telling you things?" She said finally, and Sandy was stunned to find emotion in her voice she had never heard before. "I made a promise to you after Diglett Cave, and I want to keep that promise, but… but since then… you got shot the day after I made that promise Sandy," Alaska spat out, choking up as she spoke. "I want to tell you everything, you deserve to know, but I am scared Sandy… scared that the more and more we get involved in this, the higher the chance that something bad will happen to us… to you. I am the one that started this; I am the one that confronted Gideon at the museum! You never signed up for this, we were both just looking for a friend to travel with, but instead of giving you companionship I've endangered your life more times than I ever could have imagined. That is why I have tried to keep everything from you; to protect you…

"We are in a situation so completely insane I barely understand five percent of what is going on! Half the time I feel like I am trapped in a bizarre video game, with someone using me as some avatar for their own life. None of this feels real; meeting all these famous people, being targeted by robots and gun wielding mad men, encountering ghosts, running from explosions. I have no idea how I am ever suppose to come back from this… The other day, when Nitelite dropped us and that Snorlax began to wake up, I thought for certain it was going to kill us. I have never felt that way about Pokemon before. Sure, I have been frightened by some, but I always wanted to face them head on and show them what's what. But now… everything seems to want to kill us, and it is changing me more than I probably realise. For the past few days I have been trying not to think about all the crap in our lives, because I want this over Sandy, I want to end this more than anything."

"So that's why you've been battling so much?" Sandy asked, unable to keep quiet as she needed answers.

"Yes… You saw what happened with Alexis, I wouldn't have won that rematch if I hadn't burnt her bloody gym down in order to do so. You are right, I really need to stop relying on the fireworks to make myself heard," Alaska added, smirking for the first time since Sandy had entered the tent, and the blonde could not help but laugh a little. "I made a decision during the storm, I decided I want to focus on my gym battles and I want to get stronger, to defeat them and to defeat Gideon, but I cannot rely on tricks to do that anymore. I am so sorry if I have ignored you and your Pokemon, there is no excuse for using you all as training dummies. I got carried away but I _swear_ to cut back now. Besides, now that I have Shelley, I can probably train on my –"

"Shelley?" Sandy interrupted.

"Oh yeah; the Shellder, I named her Shelley," Alaska explained. Sandy raised an eyebrow, a smirk creeping onto her face, and then she began to laugh. "What is wrong with Shelley?" Alaska asked, scoffing indignantly but smirking herself.

"Shellder… Shelley… not terribly imaginative on your part," Sandy replied, beginning to laugh.

"Rude Alexandra Samson, very rude!" Alaska tutted, but she was chuckling herself. "It's been a long week; I believe I'm allowed a lull day creativity wise!" Sandy continued to snigger, and Alaska descended into laughter herself. It lasted for over a minute, and by the time Sandy stopped she had fallen to her side, feeling the grass poking her beneath the tent's surface. She looked at Alaska and sighed as the last of the laughter died.

"We've had a long two months, you deserve as much time as you want," Sandy said dejectedly, and Alaska murmured in agreement. They paused for a moment, and while Sandy felt lighter, the air was not fully clear yet.

"I am so sorry for everything you've been through Sandy," Alaska said a minute later. "I have been a complete bitch, don't deny it, and I have made this whole journey about my fight with Gideon. I've wanted to protect you from everything, even bloody Barney this morning, but part of me has always known I was handling this wrong; if you want to help than you can and I will tell you everything, I shouldn't decide how you live your life." Sandy paused for a moment, letting this soak in, and then she looked at her and beamed.

"I may regret this the next time some killer Jigglypuff comes after us, but I want to help Alaska. You may have started this war with Gideon, but I am involved now and I am going to make sure we defeat that greasy bastard even if it kills us!" Sandy boomed with a smile so wide it made her muscles hurt.

"In this till the bitter end then, eh?" Alaska said, grinning herself. "That's what you get for wanting to be my friend."

"Well, it all seemed like a good idea at the time," Sandy replied, and Alaska snorted with laughter. A bang suddenly echoed throughout the night, and the two paused and gazed through the flaps; the latest challenge of _Indigo Dreams _was about to begin, and Amanda's shrill voice echoed as she organised her troops into order.

"Uptight bitch," Alaska hissed. "Good on you for sticking up to her before, I was quite proud of you!" Sandy beamed and blushed with pride, amazed to think the two had managed to reach this point in only a few hours.

"Lachy was talking about her before, seems to think the fact they cut us out of the show means Amanda is hiding something," she explained, and Alaska leaned back and pondered this.

"Potentially, I could be disrupting some larger plan of theirs… either that or she loses a botox appointment every time the ratings slide," she replied, smirking. "Before we get into her though, I owe you the truth on a few matters…"

And for the rest of the night, Alaska spoke and Sandy lay there and listened. She had to admit Alaska was right about it being difficult to comprehend all these things; fortune tellers with mysterious cards, the shadowed man appearing on the rooftop, Latios' prophecy, Sandy's head hurt trying to digest it all. They soon moved onto subjects they could discuss; who was behind the robots, why was Red following them, what did Gideon need the spell book for and why had he attacked Vermilion? For the first time Sandy felt she could properly share her thoughts, and the two friends debated and discussed long into the night, even while Alaska updated her blog. By the time they had exhausted themselves of all topics, Sandy found her bag was dry enough and they crawled under their covers.

Sandy lay awake for a little while longer, listening to the wind outside and the distant bangs from the obstacle course. She knew things were not going to be perfect straight away, and there was always a chance Alaska could hide something, but tonight had gone better than Sandy could have ever expected. She shut her eyes and thought back to that last day in the park, watching in awe as a Swanna took flight and soared above her head, Isabella Samson holding her up so her little arms could try and touch its glowing white wings. That had always been a happy memory for Sandy, one she liked to retreat to when her optimism failed to protect her. However, Sandy was pleased to know that after tonight she would have a new memory set right in this very tent to look back to when the world got too dark.

She and Alaska weren't just allies again; they were friends, and Sandy couldn't be happier.

**This arc is finally over! I am relieved simply as I started it so long ago! Blog/interlude coming next, and then our story kicks back into gear. I hope you enjoyed this voyage into Sandy's mind and did not mind the heft of dialogue above; next time we return to Alaska's thoughts****  
**


	81. Blog 11: The Paths Untaken

**Blog Eleven: The Paths Untaken **

Hello once more, my vivacious internet dearies. How's this whore we call life treating you all? Devilishly, I hope – no one likes an angelic whore now do they?

It is a tad difficult to describe how my own life has been these past few days. Obviously, anyone following the news will probably have gathered that I was involved in that incident at the casino, though I am pleased to say that was probably the only significantly life threatening situation I got into this week! I've been explosion-sober for a few days, so go me!

Essentially, my life this past week has been made up of walking – walking and thinking, two of the dullest activities on the planet, but I think I have deserved a dull week, don't you? I would recommend this to anyone out there who finds their life is usually full of exploding robots and nuclear arms wielding mad men: head to the very west of Kanto and just spend a week strolling down that concrete path, let your mind wander and simply relax. It will do you the world of good.

It's just been me and Sandy for the most part, and I couldn't be happier about that. It was nice to interact with some other humans whilst in Celadon, but me and other people don't really click, so going back to just the two of us having a nice little wander down this coastal path was rather refreshing. Mostly it's been quiet, and this route is so much more relaxing than anywhere else I have been lately, and it gave me a lot of time to think just with myself. I did dwell on some of those bastard questions that I have not yet managed to shake, like why our beloved champion has sent his legendary pets after me, or who exactly my shadowy stalker is, but largely I thought about simpler, non-earth shattering things.

I thought about my family who I have not seen or spoken to for months now (I did give them the link to this blog, so they either are following my every move like every other bloody person in this region, or my mother had a heart attack the second she saw the words giant robot Beedrill together in the same sentence. Considering my dear mother can't open the internet without assistance, I think I may be safe.) I am almost enviously wondering about my sibling's school life – to be honest, I would rather have to do mathematics at the moment than get shot at again. You may hate denominators, but they are pretty easy compared to fighting deranged weirdos. I pondered on the current state of ViridianCity and how that is going, I thought about all the shows I haven't watched, all the big news stories I have missed, the fact life is chugging on without me while I am living in my own little world with only Sandy, my Pokemon and assassins for company.

Ultimately, the biggest thing I think about is what my life would be like if I had not gone on this journey. Sometimes I just wonder how worthwhile this has really been, and how normal things may have been if I had stayed in Viridian, gone to school, raised Paige in my backyard and taken the non-trainer lifestyle like the rest of my school. Would Paige have evolved by now? Would my school grades have improved? Would I have somehow met Sandy in less life threatening circumstances? Would I be setting myself up for some boring desk job for the rest of my days? And what about Gideon and the giant robots? Would all those plans have been carried out if I had not been there to get involved? Maybe some of them would have never happened or maybe they could have been worse, who knows? That seems to be the curse of living a life like this, never being able to know what would have happened to you or anyone else if you had never gotten involved.

I got a new Pokemon today, a little Shellder who I have simply dubbed Shelley (Sandy told me it wasn't very imaginative, but I like it, what do y'all think? Feel free to abuse me in the comments if you want). Her mother, a Cloyster, saved our lives and wanted us to take her daughter with us as a thank you, to give her the life and experiences I guess the Cloyster never experienced herself. I can only imagine what was going through the Pokemon's mind, but I feel she was having similar thoughts to me: wondering what path her life may have taken if some trainer had captured her all those years ago. I guess these are things we must live with after the events of our life have unfolded; what if I had chosen to do that instead, what if I had did this, what if I hadn't done that. I only remembered afterwards how my own mother had been supportive of my decision to go on a journey, and it makes me wonder how both our lives would be different had she gone travelling as a child– though I try not to dwell on that too much, as I know I never would have been born…

I should probably keep you up to date on the other things that happened to me this week, considering that's what a blog is for; as I said above, Sandy and I nearly died again, but compared to everything else this latest freak Barney registered about a 3 on the Maniac-Scale (patent pending), and we met Mitchell and the reality stars again, but we all walked away unscathed. Normally these things may have made things a bit more interesting, but I really couldn't care less about them. My thoughts were all that mattered to me this week, everything else just got in the way of me realising a few things I probably should have considered a while ago. I had a long talk with Sandy – well, I say talk, we largely argued at first. When we finally talked like sane human beings and I heard what my friend had to say and what she had been keeping from me, I knew that there was one thing that I would change if I could go back. I just wish all of my decisions could be this easy.

My little adventure this week began with being flown away from a gunfight in the arms of a Dragonite, and it has ended in a tent in the middle of nowhere, listening to the world moving on outside this triangle of fabric. This has ended so peacefully that I have to think back to that dark floor beneath the ground, surrounded by men with guns, fallen limousines and broken rubble around me. As I type this I am looking back and wondering where I would have ended up if I had not been flown away to safety, and thinking what happened to those I left behind.

I have done enough soul searching for one day; it is time for a rest. This blog is probably rather vague and makes little sense, but I had to get these thoughts out there and say what has been bothering me. This journey has affected me in more ways than anyone reading this could possibly ever imagine, and these changes are going to stick with me for years to come (if I survive my way through this all, that is). The other week I was forced to make a decision on the future of my travels, and while I am now set firmly on this path to train for now and die another day, as Shelley and her mother will tell you, wonders of what could have been are a part of our daily thoughts – I just have the misfortune of mine being on a much larger scale.

Until next time - here's hoping your what ifs do not keep you awake at night,

Alaska

**Been so long since I did one of these, yet when I began writing it things went faster than probably anything else this year. Not quite as humorous as the others, but I figured that this was something Alaska needed to say. Next up, the first interlude in who knows how many months! **


	82. Interlude 11 Six Degrees of Madness

**Just a warning, this chapter contains spoilers for Kris vs Gold, so avoid the first paragraph if you are reading that story. Sorry for another delay, on holiday now, hope things will come along faster**

**Interlude Eleven: Six Degrees of Madness**

"Well, I guess that's me done for the night. I might as well head off if we have nothing else to discuss."

"Mmmhhhhmm."

"Girl, are you even paying attention? What are you still doing out there anyway, it's getting late."

"What, it is? I had no idea! I could have sworn dark meant it was morning! But you are the expert on these things; I shall have to take your word for it."

"Well, I am here only to serve you, my Champion," Karen replied with a broad grin, unfazed by the younger girl's sarcasm. She strutted out of the dining room, her black boots clunking on the wooden floor, and stepped out once more onto the balcony. Kris Soul did not seem to notice, too focussed on staring across The Champion's Park, currently hidden within the darkness of the night, tiny pinpricks of golden light penetrating the gloom.

"Can you even remember what I came here to talk about?" Karen asked, leaning against the railing, feeling tired and light headed from her several glasses of wine, but she felt a need to check on things before leaving. It took Kris several moments to respond, her attention not wavering from the darkness beneath her. "Kris?"

"We discussed the Open Day that's happening in three weeks, and you reminded me that I am to have an exhibition battle with all four of you so I should really start training again, as you also reminded me that it has been six months since I last battled someone, and a further nine months since I last checked into my proper facilities," Kris responded quickly, tilting her head and smiling back at Karen for a moment before returning to her night view.

"Very good," Karen replied. "For a second I thought you had completely disengaged your mind for the duration of the night."

"I am the bloody Champion, my job description is essentially battling and paying attention to what I am told," Kris said coldly, and she raised a glass tumbler to her lips, taking an over-long slug of Hoenn wine. Karen remained silent, staring down at the folders clasped in her aging hands, allowing Kris to drink in peace. She recalled a discussion she had had the other day with her fellow Elite Four members, their concerns suddenly rushing back to her; she had thought them silly, not worthy of much note, but after tonight, Karen had quickly realised the warning signs about Kris had been right in front of her for months, that she had simply been ignoring them.

"I really should go before it gets any later," the Dark trainer said after several tense moments of silence. Kris gave no response, her attention drifting back to the nothingness below her. Karen turned to leave, but she before she could stop herself, words came trickling from her mouth. "However, I feel that you need some advice before I leave."

"Isn't that what you're here for?" Kris snapped. Karen rolled her eyes, unable to bite her tongue any longer, and she turned back to her Champion.

"Kris, we are all worried about you," she said, though she almost spat the words out, her calm, cool demeanour evaporating in a second as the concerns she had harboured for months burst through. "You have not been right for a while now; months, if not years. I cannot pretend that I know what is happening inside that head of yours, but all I know is that you are far too young to have gone through the things you've been through, but also far too young to become a bitter little bitch that treats everyone around her like dirt. I want to see the passionate young woman that first defeated me four years ago, not her ghost that seems to be here by force rather than choice. You have three weeks to get things together before the Open Day, otherwise the entire region will know and that will make everything worse, and I am sure more media attention is the last thing you want. You _are _the bloody Champion, so it is time you bloody act like it."

With that, Karen set off, marching through the living room, leaving Kris alone on the balcony. She felt that she may have been too harsh rather helpful, and probably a bit rash, but as Karen descended the staircase, she simply hoped that her words would have some effect.

Kris sat there, listening to Karen disappear. She retrieved her glass from the table, still processing the words of the woman who, currently, was probably her only friend in the world.

_The bloody Champion, here by force, not choice_, she thought bitterly, and downed the last of her wine. She felt a slight rush to the head, but whatever was in this that should make her feel better wasn't working; Kris felt as down as she had for the past two years.

"The passionate girl… passion… you were the one that told me to fight with passion, and look where that got me!" The teenager muttered to herself, hearing her front door slam shut, catching a slight shadow gliding across footpath before it disappeared into the night. "Passion… this is no place for passion…"

It had been four years since Kris had won the title of Champion, though it had taken two battles before she was finally allowed to claim that honour. She had fought her eternal rival Ethan Hartley, a battle that had nearly killed several of the Pokemon and had ended with him being arrested, his drug cheating ways finally being exposed. Kris had thought she had finally triumphed, but Gold was able to get one last thing over her: Lance, the previous Champion, the glorious, the powerful, the popular, demanded a battle, as it became clearer that he had only lost to Gold due to his cheating.

For the second time in only a few months, Kris was forced to battle on a truly Champion level. Afterwards, she had been told the battle was 'beautifully epic', 'a masterpiece', and 'the greatest battle Johto had ever seen.' To Kris, it had simply been two of the most gruelling, exhausting and painful hours of her life. Her Pokemon push themselves to the limits, but Lance's Pokemon were powerful, years of experience making them nearly unbeatable. It had taken Latios to finally secure the win, nearly killing herself to bring Lance's Salamance, Hydregion and his oldest and strongest Dragonite down.

And when a Pokemon you have a Psychic link is being destroyed, you feel every ounce of their pain.

It had been a cruel battle, one Lance had insisted go ahead despite the death of Kris' mother only a month prior. Now he had fled to Kanto and his original Elite Four, spreading ill-will about Kris across the regions and forcing her to keep battling long after Dragonite had crashed back to earth.

For four years now, Kris had called herself Champion, but she had done little to earn the name. Her biggest achievement had been headlining the rebuild of Champion's Stadium, after Dragonite and Latios destroyed half of it with an Outrage-Mist Ball collision, and renaming the entire area Champion's Park. Since then, Kris had only fought in ten battles as Champion, two of which had been from the bi-annual Johto League tournament. She had seen the horrors of Team Galactic's plans atop Mount Coronet, images that still haunted her nightmares, but most of Kris' life these past years had been regulated within the four walls of her house, alone…

_No friends, no family, no point… _Kris thought grimly. She had no reason to return to New Bark Town anymore, not when her childhood home was now occupied by other people; nor could she bear seeing her aunts and grandmother in Ecruteak, and suffer their thinly veiled concern that was more uncomfortable than helpful, or watch as death began to catch up to the great Hanoko. And it was rather difficult to see the love of your life when he worked for the family of the man whose legacy you crushed.

_You have every right to be worried Karen, in fact, I would be upset if you weren't, _Kris thought with a sigh. _I sacrificed everything for my journey, a journey that nearly destroyed me, and only to lose everything that I gained. _Sometimes, Kris wondered what life would be like had she not become Champion; it wouldn't have saved her mother, but Kris liked to imagine what she might be doing, where she would be living, who she could be living with: these thoughts dogged her more than she would like, as attached to her as her own dark hair. Kris had once spoken of it to Red about it at a function, and he had smiled sadly at her and whispered 'That is the curse of the Champion; you get everything you had ever dreamed for to only wonder how better your life would have been if you hadn't.'

_Reassuring words as always, _Kris thought. She looked at her empty tumbler and sighed, her head starting to feel heavy and sleepy, the darkness losing its appeal. Karen was right on one thing; if Kris didn't start training again, things were not going to go well for her come the open day. It would be interesting to see how the public treated her, considering people still referred to Lance as 'The People's Champion' – the one the public wanted, the one they had wanted to win.

Kris forced herself out of the chair, wobbling slightly, and stepped back into her house. She enjoyed watching the nothingness of night, letting her imagination float away and the darkness of her thoughts disappear. The recent events across the border in Kanto had not helped her mood; more death and destruction, with a young girl in the very heart of it all. Kris wanted to help and bring an end to it, but the Indigo League had insisted they could handle it; even they didn't want a bar of her.

Suddenly, Kris stumbled, white spots dancing before her eyes; one second she was upright, staying at her pale brown walls, trying not to stay bitter, and the next she was doubled over, and knew it was not the wine. The glass smashed against the wooden floor, the sound barely registering, but Kris felt the pain as her knees fell onto the tiny shards. She winced from this, but she was more distracted by the fact her head seemed to be splitting in two, as if someone had come and taken an axe to it. Memories suddenly rushed through her mind; her father leaving on his Skarmory, receiving Chikorita, battling Gold in the Goldenrod Underground, the explosion outside the theatre in Ecruteak, meeting Leaf on a rainy beach, her and Spike at her Christmas, the day of her mother's funeral…

"What… the… hell…," Kris puffed, clutching a bleeding hand to her head, trying to block out the pain that was consuming her. She blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the spots, but saw something much stranger instead; blue light illuminated her entire house, filling every square inch in a dazzling glow that Kris would have appreciated were her head not being split in two, a glow that seemed oddly familiar.

_Krystal Soul, I have searched for you for many days. _A deep, beautiful yet frightening voice whispered inside her head, and Kris screamed in pain. _I cause you no harm, I am simply scanning your memories to see if it is truly you. This process would have gone sooner, but I fear that I am in sudden need of your help. _

A familiar sound echoed above Kris' screams, and she managed to open her eyes for a moment to see a silhouette hover across the room, eyes glowing pink as it moved towards the source of the voice.

_Brother!_

_Hello sister… it… it has been a long time_

_BROTHER! _

Kris was certain her brain was being torn apart. Unable to take it anymore, she turned, trying to find the source so she could possibly stop it. Instead, she saw Latias reaching out, facing a Pokemon that seemed to be her twin. The two reached out, their hands coming together, and Kris screamed as her mind burst, images of an exploding city swelling inside her mental vision, and suddenly everything was white.

* * *

"I am here for one reason only boy, and that's because they forgot to take Casimer's good scotch with them when they packed up his crap. I don't give a damn about your problems: they are far too big for anyone to handle, even me, and you should be able to fix them on your own by now."

"As always, it is a pleasure to be in your company Vivian," Red replied with a false smile, bringing the aforementioned alcohol and several glasses over on a tray. His brunette guest laughed, her trademark cackle echoing inside the confined living room.

"I'm always a pleasure darling, you know that!" Vivian purred. She was wearing a tight, lime green dress that looked horribly uncomfortable, and her feet were resting on the table, encased in black leather boots, looking far more dressed up than Red's casual t-shirt and old pants. Red smiled half heartedly, collapsing wearily into the chair opposite. It had not been easy arranging this meeting with the illustrious Vivian Winters, bitchy talk show therapist who could reduce anybody to tears within seconds, and Red had been tempted to not bother, but he was in desperate need of advice, and Vivian could be the only one to give it.

Things were not well in Kanto; the attack on the casino had made it clear that Gideon was not the only one out to cause harm and destruction. Red had nearly lost a gym leader and several supporters in the attack, who barely escaped unharmed; he had flown over as soon as he heard the news, but it had been too late for Red to help and or to catch the criminals. The entire region was getting worried, and the Champion needed help if he was going to stop things, and in this hour of need, he had no choice but to turn to his eldest, cattiest advisor.

"So, tell me boy," Vivian said with her trademark smirk, as she poured herself a glass of the rich, mahogany liquid, "how is your battle against this latest megalomaniac going?"

"Not very well, I am afraid," Red replied with a sigh. Vivian did not respond, simply raising her eyebrows and taking a long draught of her drink, and Red rolled his eyes at her control of the conversation. "As far as we can tell, there are at least two different groups targeting our region at the moment; Gideon is responsible for the attacks in Pewter, Vermilion and Lavender, while we believe a bigger group is behind the casino, but is also planning something far more significant. I have no idea where Gideon is nor do we have confirmation on our other assailants, but if we do not stop them than I am sure they will rival Team Rocket's actions five years ago in levels of violence and destruction. Yet the only person capable of stopping them seems to be is a thirteen year old girl who has no idea just how much of a role she could have in this, and I have no idea what I am supposed to do to save her or save Kanto!" Red barely scratched the surface of the situation, but Vivian was not one for details. The therapist nodded, finishing half of her scotch in one long gulp, and Red waited impatiently for her advice.

"A thirteen year old…," she said at last, "fighting a force much greater than herself – my, my, that sounds so very familiar, doesn't it?" Red tensed up at this, his fingers digging into the arms of his chairs, trying to avoid Vivian's triumphant smirk.

"This isn't about me, this is about Kan –" he began, but Vivian interrupted.

"You want to protect the girl because you know what will happen to her if you don't, as they are grooming her for glory the same way they groomed you," she purred. "The Indigo League is the oldest and proudest league in the world, and the one that is most image obsessed. They are well aware that these people are probably going to target you for what you did to Team Rocket, and Miss Avocado has gotten herself involved, so she is the prime person to take your place and become the first female Champion of Kanto and make up for the disappointment of Krystal Soul."

"How is any of this relevant?" Red asked, beginning to regret inviting her over. "I need advice on how to stop Gideon and save Kanto, not a bloody therapy session!"

"Oh Red, everything is relevant to you when you're Champion!" Vivian laughed, refilling her drink already. She paused, swigging back the scotch, shuddering slightly as it slid down her throat, and then looked back at Red, her face turning serious. "You want advice on how to handle this, well, here is what I have to say: you watched your best friend die in a hole in the very depths of Kanto, unable to do anything as Team Rocket got one final thing over you long after you though you had defeated them. None of this would have happened had you not been pruned like a show Ponyta into becoming Champion, so now that you see the same happening to Alaska, you want to save her in order to avenge your friend and finally vanquish Giovanni's failed attempt at glory once and for all. If you want to save Kanto, accept that as a fact and stop letting your guilt over Blue's death hold you back; now if I am wrong, I will donate my entire fortune to charity."

Red was taken back by the calmness in her voice despite the power in her words, and for a second he was left dumbstruck. He wanted to argue, Vivian always brought that out in people, but for once he was speechless, collapsing back into his own thoughts; was she right, was that really what he was thinking? Red had wanted to protect Alaska since he had learnt about her, knowing deep down there was no other course of action, but had his concern sprung from four year old guilt?

_No, this isn't about him, this is not about Blue! _Red told himself determinedly, but another side of his mind, the side he sometimes imagined Lapras had control over, hissed back _but of course it is, it has always been about Blue, you have not stopped thinking about him since that bloody cave… _

"You really should donate that money anyway," Red muttered finally, lunging towards the scotch, and Vivian laughed, though it was less bitchy this time. She waited until Red had filled a glass, downed it and refilled before talking once more.

"I may have a botox-riddled, thin lipped, unfazed ice queen persona for the cameras, but there are some things that get under my skin, asides from silicon," Vivian said glumly, looking at Red over the top of her famous red glasses. "I have been following this girl's blog, and I must say I am not impressed with how she has been treated, left alone to fight in another bloody war."

"I let things get out of my control," Red sighed. "The League told me they would handle things, and that I was too stay out of it and not risk my own life. I wish I had never listened to them; I sent Zapdos and Suicune to protect her, it was the only thing I could do at the time, but I have to do something else. I don't care about my own life at the moment, not when Alaska and her friend are risking their lives to save our region!"

"And the lives of everyone they meet," Vivian purred icily. "I presume you were spurred into calling me by the casino attack?" Red nodded his head in dismay, remembering the jagged crater in the road, smoke rising from deep below the ground as the magnificent fountain emptied itself into one of his old battlefields.

"Too many people that are close to me were nearly killed that day," he explained. "What happened to Vermilion and Chrono Island was terrible, and we still don't know why Gideon acted the way he did. But… but these other people, we have no chance of stopping them, and they are starting to get personal. What if they go after my mother next, or Professor Oak, or Murdoch or… or… or Leaf…," he finished weakly, well aware of how selfish and pathetic he sounded, but for once Vivian did not comment.

"This is a war, Edward, we are both aware of that – not as bad as five years ago, or what happened in the other regions since then, but it has already claimed too many lives and caused too much destruction. The League may want to protect you, but a general can't win his war miles from the fight, and you can't save us all from the side of a mountain. You are the Champion; it's your job to fight, and its time you did." Red nodded along to her words, a slight smile creeping across his face. The idea had been inside his head for weeks now, but now that Vivian in all her catty wisdom had confirmed it, there was clearly no other choice.

"I'm taking this with me," the therapist said, snatching the bottle of scotch with purple manicured fingers and slipping it into her handbag as she heaved it up from the floor. Red stood up with her, pleased that he had called her now, a hundred ideas quickly coming to mind. However, Vivian was not moving, remaining where she stood; face sinking, eyes suddenly full of pity.

"You know nothing is said in this region that doesn't reach me eventually, I have heard the rumours," she said as sympathetically as she could. "You know who these other people are, and they are coming for you, aren't they?" A lump formed in Red's throat, a chill creeping through his spine. The League refused to accept the truth, were ignoring the grainy security footage, ignoring the whispers and rumours that had dogged the Champion for months. Even Professor Oak was sceptical, assuring him that if the reality show really was an ex-Team Rocket front, he would know. But Red knew the truth, had sent Leaf away for her own safety, waiting for his killers to come to his doorstep.

"Yes, yes they are," he replied, trying to sound confident but his voice cracked slightly, the fear and intensity suddenly getting to him. Vivian sighed and lunged into her bag, pulling out a ruby cigarette holder and lighting its cigarette. Tense silence filled the air as she took a long puff, blowing the smoke out like a steam engine, letting it float up to the roof before talking again.

"Six years ago, in this very room, I warned Casimer – back when this all began, when Giovanni changed our world forever, I warned him to be careful, that Kanto would need her Champion. He smiled at me, but he was too confident for his own good. Will you make up for his mistakes Red; you Champions are all douches anyway, but will you try and not get yourself killed?" Red laughed, a chuckle bursting from his lips before he could stop it, and he let it carry on, the sound swelling inside the room. Vivian raised an eyebrow, her lips sucking on the holder, but Red simply kept on laughing, trying to find the situation funny, but it was ultimately fear fuelling this joy.

"Of course I will be careful, but what's the point?" He said finally, breathless with his own insane laughter. "You said it before; I've already been replaced, haven't I?"

* * *

Sleep refused to come to Leaf Oak.

The eighteen year old turned to her alarm, aggressively slamming a button so she could see the time. Luminous red numbers suddenly appeared, the flash blinding in the dark, but Leaf was able to keep her eyes open long enough to see the figures: 2:37 AM

"Shit," she hissed to herself, and angrily shoved the clock backwards, the numbers fading and the room retreating back to darkness. _Four hours I've been awake! FOUR! _Leaf reminded herself. She was tempted to scream in frustration, to throw her sheets around and vent all this rage, but all she could do was sigh.

It had been this way ever since she had arrived in Fuchsia City. While Leaf spent her days in bliss, exploring the city with Janine and training with her fellow gym leader, her nights were an absolute terror. She had not had a proper night's sleep since leaving Champion's House, and there had been some nights where she had not slept at all, simply laying on the mattress and waiting for morning to come and the nightmare to end. Leaf had reached the point where it was making her unwell, and she knew she needed to get help, but the Viridian native knew she had plenty of reasons for being restless.

The last few months, after three years of calm, of rebuilding their world, of finally finding a sense of normality in life, Gideon had turned everything upside down. Leaf had been horrified by the scientist's action, and she had wanted to find a way to help, but Red had refused. He had insisted she quietly close the gym, disappear away from the cameras and become obscure. Leaf knew it was his way of protecting her, but Red had no idea what his decision was putting his girlfriend through.

_I have heard the rumours, everyone bloody well has! _Leaf thought bitterly. She remembered when she had arrived in Fuchsia, and Janine had thrown her arms around her in greeting; the embrace had been uncomfortable, as if she had just hugged a widow, and the look in Janine's eyes had been pitiful. Leaf was not going to let Red Lowe die, not after all they had been through together, but she could do nothing from the other side of Kanto, rarely speaking to him, forced to get updates from her cousin, the news or, worst of all, Alaska's blog.

_Poor girl…, _Leaf thought wearily. She could remember what it was like, forced into battle against a powerful enemy with only few allies; watching as towns and cities were destroyed, struggling to protect yourself let alone anyone else, winning at the last moment long enough to get away, but only for the battle to catch up eventually. But at least when Leaf had fought for her life every day for several months, there had been Red and Blue, she had had her Pokemon, and Janine, and Daisy, and Mark and Murdoch and Madame… but Alaska had no one, only Sandy and less than ten Pokemon between them. Leaf had seen a new blog post before going to bed, and she had been concerned by the talks of tension between them. There had been times when her little trio had fallen out, and it was at those times that they had been weakest. Leaf hoped Alaska would be strong again soon, and hoped someone would go in and help her out of this mess before something worse happened…

A white flash illuminated the room. Leaf leapt up in her bed, trying to shield her eyes from the sudden blinding flash. For a second, she thought she was hallucinating, that her mass tiredness had finally gotten to her, but than a voice sounded from within the glow.

"Sorry babe, did I disturb your beauty sleep?" It cackled. Leaf stopped shielding her eyes, her arm flopping to her side, and she irritably turned towards the light.

"What the hell do you want Charlotte?" She moaned. The glow disappeared, and the ghost appeared clearly before her, a wicked smile stretching across her transparent face. It had been over a year now, possibly even two, since Leaf had last lain eyes on her, and her life had been all the more pleasant for it.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, I am only here for a moment," Charlotte replied, her grin only getting wider. "I am still a bit sore after I ran into Gideon the other week, so I can't stay long even though we haven't caught up in for_eveeeeeer_!" The ghost giggled to herself, but Leaf remained stony faced, refusing to let Charlotte get under her skin. Silence fell as she stared defiantly at the ghost, who was waiting for some kind of response, but it quickly faltered and she tutted.

"Fine then, be a stubborn cow!" Charlotte huffed. "You need to call Sabrina and warn her to be on her guard tomorrow."

"Sabrina?" Leaf repeated in shock; the Psychic trainer was rarely seen outside of her gym, and Leaf had not spoken to her properly for at least a year. "Why do I need to warn her? And hang on, why can't _you _just teleport over there and tell her yourself!"

"I just told you that I'm still weak, rude little non-listener!" Charlotte huffed. "Her gym has too many protective forces around it for my liking, and I really can't be bothered with them right now. So, can you just call her as soon as you wake up tomorrow?" Leaf was tempted to think of some witty response and get one over the frustrating ghost, but she was taken aback by the tired look in those long dead eyes, and her own weariness left her in no mood to fight.

"Yes, fine, whatever!" The brunette groaned. "As long as you bloody well piss off, I need to get some sleep!" Charlotte clapped her hands in delight, somehow managing to make noise despite the fact they weren't solid. Leaf rolled her eyes and fell back onto her pillow, hoping it was over now, but there was no flash signalling Charlotte's departure, and she turned back to face her.

"Thank you Leaf, I do appreciate this," the ghost said once her audience had returned to her. "In return of your generous gratitude, I shall give you a warning; the thing you have longed hoped to occur will happen soon, as will the long you have dreaded for longer. And you are going to meet the lovely Alaska soon enough, so I would suggest you start thinking up some advice to pass on."

"What are you talking about?" Leaf snapped her mind suddenly awake once more. "What have I been dreading? Is this to do with Red?"

"You'll never get to sleep with your head so full of questions," Charlotte replied with a smirk, and she floated forwards, her right hand outstretched.

"No Charlotte, answer me, what are you on about?" Leaf shouted. "Answer me, for fucks sake! ANSWER ME!" But Charlotte's hand brushed against her forehead, and suddenly Leaf was falling backwards, asleep before her head had even hit the pillow, her fears evaporating for tonight at least.

* * *

_Here we go again…_

In the shadow of the Magnet Train Terminus, hidden away from the other passengers that had disembarked the Late Night Express with him five minutes prior, a man watched Saffron City sleep. He watched the train travellers leaving in twos and threes, talking in hushed tones so as not to wake the massive city before them, but their voices were filled with excitement about the journey and what lay ahead for them.

_I wonder how many of them will be alive next week, _the man thought grimly. He instantly was annoyed at himself for the macabre thought, but he really couldn't help himself; three years of peace and civility, three years of small jobs busting low scale crime rings and Pokemon poaching, three years of built up calmness about to be shattered, and all because of one girl.

The middle aged man reached into a pocket of his tatty old trench coat, retrieving the lone cigarette he kept for times like this. It would not look terribly suspicious, an old man smoking in the shadows, and he was doubtful anyone was watching him just yet. The crowds had dispersed now, heading for cheap motels or homes of friends, and the man was left alone, turning his attention towards the heart of the city several blocks down. There lay the cities famous skyscrapers, some of the tallest buildings in Kanto, steely symbols of big business that dwarfed the rest of the city, which was a hard feat considering nothing here was smaller than three storeys.

However, the tallest of them was the Silph Company Building, a god amongst giants; one hundred plus storeys, appearing to be made entirely out of purple glass, it was so tall that lights on the roof turned on at night to warn airplanes and night Pokemon of the beast before them. Silph Co. was the biggest company in all of Kanto and Johto, and that building housed everything from the science and development team from which the company had born to the new initiatives like book publishing and television production.

The man smirked at the red lights so far above, twinkling like a beacon that was drawing everything towards it. _Well, you've brought me here, now what do you want to do with me? _He had no idea what would happen tomorrow when he stepped into that building, but all he knew was that this had turned into something that Trevor, his protégée, had been unable to handle alone. Tomorrow, the day would either end with the growing resurgence of a criminal organisation brought down, or with him lying dead on some executive's office, wiped off the face of the earth.

_Here goes nothing, _Looker thought bitterly. He took one long, last puff of the cigarette, letting the smoke swirl inside his throat one final time, before throwing the disintegrating stick aside. Looker snuffed it out with a single crunch of his heel, and then the spy walked away into the night, ready to see what tomorrow had in store for him.

* * *

The burnt black floors beneath the Celadon Casino creaked under Gideon's feet.

It had been years since the scientist had last been here, in the final days of Giovanni's war against the world, and Gideon was dismayed to see how it fallen into disrepair; he could still remember the day when this glorious building had been destroyed, and since being acquisitioned by the Athlew family, it had remained a broken shell of what had once been the greatest facility in Kanto.

When he had seen the news, the scientist had not wanted to return to his old base, unsure of what security there would be and the deciphering of Charlotte's book taking up most of his time. Eventually, nostalgia and curiosity had overpowered him, and Gideon knew he had to see what it had become.

As he walked, his feet stirred up ash and dust, rising up to greet him like an old friend. Gideon was frowned at the layer of filth, a grim reminder of what the base had been reduced to. They would have repaired it, had they won the war, but after the final battle, Gideon had only had time to save his own skin rather than rescue a dilapidated building.

He paused and looked around, trying to remember what had been where, searching through his memory for the colour scheme and layout, but he could only see was what it had become; burnt, broken, the blackened façade dented by bullet casings and rubble from the road above, scattered with the burnt out remains of several limousines.

"What happened to you?" Gideon sighed, staring into the darkness that surrounded him. He could remember it had once been bustling, the hub of everything he and Giovanni had tried to achieve five years ago, the place where the plans had been made, their army had been trained, and their experiments had been concocted. It had been massive, it had been glorious… and now it had become _this_, the skeleton in the Athlew's closet on their path to unnecessary riches.

Gideon tensed up as he remembered all the things he had achieved here, and everything he would have – if it hadn't been for _them_. His nostalgic feelings evaporated at once, anger quickly taking over; those miserable little children had brought this place down in one night, all those years of effort going up in a literal cloud of smoke, ruining years of planning and research. Gideon had thought it would be over, that the two survivors would be tied down with their responsibilities, yet here it was happening again; Alaska Acevedo bringing her hero act right through his old workplace.

"YOU BITCH, YOU WILL NOT REPEAT WHAT THEY DID, YOU WILL NOT BRING ME DOWN!" Gideon screamed, and he bent down and grabbed a piece of rubble and threw it at the nearest limo, forcing the scorched door off its hinges. "If only _you_ would break so easily!" He hissed, and he fidgeted furiously with his watch. Gideon stared around at his broken paradise one final time, imagining what it would have become of this place had they won, if his own marble monument would be towering above him right now instead of a filthy casino, before the power of the teleportation field took over.

He had failed five years ago, he had let himself get defeated by children, but Gideon was not going to let that happen again; Alaska would die before he was ruined again.

* * *

"Wartortle, use Water Gun!"

"Confusion Kadabra – no, to your right!"

"Hurry up Vulpix, Energy Ball, knock them out!"

Amanda watched the challenge unfold with dismay. _This doesn't make any bloody sense, _she thought irritably, but it had been the best they could come up with in a short space of time. The producer watched as her three stars, standing in a triangle around a wide area, commanded their blind-folded Pokemon to try and defeat the others, all the while navigating ramps and obstacles that had been left behind from previous challenges. It was a silly game, and Amanda could tell the crew were all as bored as she was, one of the boom operators even appearing asleep.

_We have to keep going though, just a few more minutes, it should be done by then, _Amanda thought. She was feeling uneasy, her eyes continuing to flicker in the direction of the tent she knew was just further down the grassy road. The team would be there any minute now, and as long as Amanda kept everyone distracted, things would finally go to plan.

_Silly little bitches, they didn't expect a thing, _Amanda thought, her lips curling into a smile. It had been a shock when she had seen Alaska and Sandy back in her domain once more, acting so rude and defiant towards her as if she was just some lowly peasant they could simply walk all over. It had been infuriating, being treated that way again after so long, by someone as wretched as Alaska Acevedo…

Amanda was stressed to her limits these days, struggling to keep this front of a show going as well as keeping up with Buzz and his ever changing plans. The attack on the casino had been a catastrophe, and Amanda had been angry when she learnt how Buzz had stupidly risked his life for something as pointless and ostentatious as that. It was damaging their cause rather than helping, and it had done nothing to make Amanda calmer about the weeks to come.

However, after Alaska and Sandy had finished tearing her down before her own crew, a crew that barely looked up to her as it was, Amanda had had an idea; there was no way the two little whores would be able to get very far away from their site that day. Amanda had never been able to act on them before, not when there had been witnesses, not when her stars had been about (though it was not as if the boys liked her anyway). But now, the darkness provided the perfect opportunity to act, and Amanda had been almost gleeful when she had realized Alaska had walked right into a trap. Buzz had been on a phone within minutes, and a team had been organized a quarter of an hour later. Buzz's words had been kind and gentle for once instead of loud and hurtful. Amanda had almost cried, both in joy and relief, as she drank from the secret bottle of vodka she carried around in her suitcase, there for times like these.

She could feel the effects now, her vision slightly blurry, her stance not as steady as it should be. Amanda hoped no one noticed, but she also knew it could allow for a fine distraction should one be needed. She got bored of watching Wartortle spraying water several metres off target and glanced back in at tent; sea breeze struck her face, cool and tender, and Amanda greedily watched the night, hoping for some sign that her job had been done, but beyond their portable lights it was simply darkness.

As if the universe had heard her, her phone buzzed loudly, shrill enough to catch everyone's attention. Amanda smiled awkwardly and turned away, slipping the device out and quickly searching for the message. She eagerly hoped it would be news that they were moving in now, asking that no one's attention turned away from the game. She came across the text, from a blocked number, and opened:

We have caught a Pidgey and a Caterpie – B

_They did it… they've finally done it… _Amanda thought, eyes bulging, a strange rush of emotions coursing through her body; surprise, excitement, horror, happy, sad, it was almost orgasmic. She put her phone away and turned back around, barely noticing as Kadabra hit Vulpix, sending her flying up a ramp. Her attention was solely on the distant darkness, where some team had already swooped in, grabbed the girls and left without a single soul noticing… without even her knowing…

"YES!" Damian yelled exuberantly, the sound cutting through the night, and Amanda turned to see Wartortle and Vulpix flopped on top of each other, the competition finally finished. The crew muttered sounds of relief, and the production assistant dished out the next orders. Amanda forced a smile, pretending that the game had gone well as her mind drifting back to her vodka and how thirsty she suddenly was for it. She knew she should be happy, she knew she should be pleased, but Amanda could not ignore the strange, empty pit swelling inside her chest.

_They did it, they caught them… without me… _


	83. Chapter 60: Waking to a Brand New Death

**Chapter Sixty: Waking Up to a Brand New Death**

Several months ago, if Alaska had woken up to find herself not in the tent she had fallen asleep in, but instead gagged and bound to a chair in an unfamiliar room, she would have been rather startled. However, after a journey that had involved at least three different exploding robotic Pokemon, jumping from the top floor of a museum, having her brain swapped with a Pidgeotto, suffering massive head trauma, meeting a ghost and getting tsunami-ed by an insane fishermen, Alaska simply looked across at Sandy, hands tied with wire, mouth taped shut, eyes wide and frightful, and thought _Wow, I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner. _

That was not to mean she was not frightened. Alaska was deeply unsettled by the fact she had fallen asleep in her tent on Route 13 and had managed to be kidnapped and transported without waking, and apparently without anyone noticing and stopping their kidnappers. She had no clue where she was, how had kidnapped them or what was going to happen, but she did knew she could not let her fear get the better of her. Whoever was behind this latest setback would simply win if Alaska's courage failed, and even though she was doubtful how this situation would go, she had to remain confident.

With little else to do but wait for someone to arrive, Alaska let her eyes wander around the room; it was plain and boring, with colourless white walls decorated dully with diplomas and photos, a typical businessman's desk to her right, two leather couches either side of a tacky Persian skin rug on her left, and a sole pot plant resting in one corner, the only other sign of life so far. Floor to ceiling windows beside the couches let in glorious, early morning sunshine, a giving a sparkly view of multiple skyscrapers and towers; Alaska wondered if this meant they were in Saffron, though there was always the chance they were in Castelia or Goldenrod: there was no telling what day it was, how long they had been unconscious and far they had travelled.

Alaska and Sandy had been placed opposite each other, like a distorted mirror that was able to tell Alaska several things about herself: Sandy was still wearing the clothes she had fallen asleep in, and she appeared visibly uninjured, so things had not been a struggle it seemed. Alaska was trusted she was the same and was mildly reassured, but she was shaken by Sandy's terrified expression. Only the previous night (or so she hoped), the two had sorted a lot of their issues out; Alaska had been shocked by Sandy's story of her life before travelling, but she had been pleased that her friend was confident enough to share that information with her, as well as voice the tensions that had been lying between them. It seemed made this situation almost ironic, Alaska thought, having told Sandy she wanted to protect her but only to simply sleep through a kidnapping. .

_I am not going to let her die. I don't care what happens to me, but Sandy is not dying for me! _Alaska told herself determinedly, and she tried to smile at her friend, but the tape across her mouth prevented that and she had to resort to make her eyes look as kindly as possible. Sandy did not look very comforted, but before Alaska could think of a better way to calm her, a door behind them creaked open.

"… and I won't be taking any calls for the next hour or two, I have a _lot _of paper work to catch up on!" A smug, loud, very male voice uttered. There was a mumbled reply from whoever he was talking to, and the voice laughed loudly. "Well, you tell Frank that next time he offers a round of drinks!" The receptionist or whatever laughed back, and the man continued to laugh even after he had closed and locked the door; however, all genuine humour quickly disappeared, and a shiver went down Alaska's spine as the maniacal laughter echoed within the tiny room as she realised she had heard it before.

The man stepped into her line of vision, and Alaska was able to clearly see the person who had attacked the casino for the first time. He was not a tall man, but was mildly intimidating in other ways; buff and bronzed like a contestant in a Lt. Surge look alike competition, but with the gelled black hair and pinstriped three piece suit Alaska had only see in movie stars from the fifties. The man smiled at her, a malicious grin that bared his white teeth, and his blue eyes dazzled as they stared greedily down at her, a look like a hungry Liepard. Alaska had no idea who this man was or why he had brought them here, but he seemed more like the type of person who thought they were richer than they really were, not to lead gunmen on an attack underneath a casino. His appearance did make Alaska curious though; why exactly was this seemingly run of the mill businessman coming after her, and what role did he play in the wider scheme of things?

"Well, well, well…" the man said once he had stopped laughing. He looked at Alaska and sighed dramatically. "After all this time Alaska; after all your attempts to stop my plans from succeeding, after all the suffering and chaos you have caused, we finally meet!" He boomed. "Though, at times, I feel like I do know you, Miss Acevedo. I have read your blog religiously and I have studied your words and mannerisms quite well, and I have heard detailed reports about what the things you have done; the Pewter Museum, Mt Moon, Lavender Town, the Power Plant… such an expansive CV for a girl so young!" He smirked at her, and Alaska would have kicked him, well aware of a perfect target right between his legs, had her legs not been tied to the chair.

"Would you two ladies care for a drink?" The man asked, gesturing towards his desk and a pitcher of water. "Raise your hands if you want one… No? Nobody's thirsty? Oh well, more for me then," he said with a smile, and he poured himself a tall glass which he noisily and slowly gulped down before refilling. Alaska looked at Sandy and rolled her eyes as dramatically as possible, and her friend could not but unleash an involuntary snort. The black haired man turned towards them, fire suddenly burning in his eyes, and he let the glass fall back onto his desk, not noticing as it rolled over the side.

"Something funny, ladies?" He asked quietly, his eyes rapidly darting between them both. Alaska crafted her face to appear steadfast and unmoved, and Sandy attempted the same determined air, but her confidence wavered as the man strutted towards her. "Would you care to share what it was that made you laugh?" He hissed quietly. "I _really_ would like to know. Alaska always seems to say funny things; I was hoping she would say something clever while we were having this little meeting. She has done this one very hilarious thing of costing me over twenty MILLION dollars by ruining nearly every single one of my plans! Now tell me: WHAT MADE YOU LAUGH?" He roared, and he lashed out before Sandy could have answered, striking her across the cheek. He hit with enough force to make the chair tilt, and a huge red mark formed on the visible parts of her face. Alaska yelled into her tape, and she tried to stand only to collapse backwards, her legs unable to move. The man turned away from Sandy, his face red, but a smile was coming back onto his features now.

"Ah... I seem to have found a soft spot," he purred. He reached out and grabbed Sandy's face, giving it a little squeeze that made her whimper. "It seems you have failed in this particular area, Alaska. The first rule of taking on an empire bigger than you could ever imagine is never create any relationships – it simply provides more targets for your enemies, and will only hurt more when we finally succeed." The man smiled viciously, the sun making his eyes glitter and his pearl like teeth shine, but he appeared more insane than attractive. Alaska put as much anger and contempt into her stare as she could muster, but it did not faze her enemy; he looked down at Sandy and made a sound of disgust, and let go of her lips with a shove before walking away. The blonde watched him go, her eyes burning behind the tears that streaked down her cheeks, and Alaska was furious; partly for what this monster was doing to her friend, but mostly because she could do nothing, forced to be an angry but helpless observer. Though it pained her to admit it, this man was right: Alaska could do nothing without her withering words or her Pokemon to fight her battles for her. He had stripped her of all her power, and there was nothing she could do.

"Now, I am sure you are both wondering why I brought you here," the man said, spinning around and popping himself on his desk. A remote appeared in his hand, and Alaska wondered what it would do; torture them, open the window and send them flying out, call for a new jug of water? "I have wanted to meet you two for a while now, ever since you first interrupted things back in Viridian Forest. These plans have been in the works for quite a few years now – indeed, the general idea has been around longer than I have been involved in it, really; I have simply adopted the ideas of my former boss. Anyway, regardless of the history, this was supposed to be the time this grand plan came into effect. It was meant to run smoothly and be close to completion by now, but you two have ruined everything and have cost me a lot, both financially and very, very personally. If you have not yet worked it out, I tried to stop you last week at the casino, a plan I had hoped would serve as a relaunch of this master scheme, yet, _once again_, you went and ruined things! But, thankfully, I am now finally going to put an end to that!"

The man eyed them both, his smile sadistic while his eyes were hateful, and pressed the remote's only button. Alaska and Sandy turned as the floor whirred, and the Persian rug had slid aside, revealing a rectangular pit in the floor. Most of its contents were hidden from their current position, but Alaska could clearly see a large screen that was rising up on a metal arm. The man walked between the girls and towards the pit, swiping a finger across the screen before reaching inside.

"I have been following your every move ever since you first interrupted things in Vermilion," he told them, watching them while his ferreted about in the pit. "I have managed to capture nearly every single one of your more spectacular moments since then. Anything you'd like to watch again before you die? I have footage from Pewter Museum, I have security cameras from Vermilion and the Power Plant, I have you and Chloe fighting in the bar – I even have a traffic camera that caught the moment you sent Alexis' Meganium crashing through the back wall!" The man laughed as he got back to his feet, a dagger clutched firmly in his hands. Alaska eyed the blade cautiously; it was long, at least several inches, with a jagged blade that shone silver, though she was sure it would be stained red with her blood within minutes.

"I know! How about I show you something you haven't seen!" The man announced as if the idea had only just come to him. He pressed several buttons on the screen, which was perfectly positioned so Alaska and Sandy could both clearly see it, and a fuzzy security image appeared. It did not seem to show anything of interest, only an empty room with a table in the centre, but when Alaska focussed, she was able to make out two familiar bags on the wooden surface.

"Ah, worked it out, have you?" The man chuckled, watching her now terrified eyes. "Your possessions are locked away within the very depths of this building, and have currently gone undisturbed. However, when I make one little call, the entire room will be sprayed with oil and set alight, where it will burn for several minutes before we pour concrete on top of everything. You will watch and see if the flames destroy your PokeBalls, and then we will see them get forever entombed. I will give you several moments to let grief consume you, and then I will cut Sandy into tiny pieces before your eyes Alaska, which I will do so across a long period of time in order to let your pain and suffering build up and up before you cannot take it anymore. Then I will destroy you in ways you cannot possibly begin to imagine, and once I have done that in within, perhaps, a fortnight's time, I will give you the sweet release of death. Are we all fine with that?"

Alaska's mind went blank. She felt sick, and wondered if she could make herself throw up, and die choking on her own vomit before he got to her first. It would be a vile way to go, but Alaska would prefer a disgusting death than being tortured and brutalized by this maniac (besides, it would be an almost rock star death, if you looked at the positives.) She looked at the fake businessman before her, a man that was prepared to kill them in his own workplace with a receptionist outside the door. What plans had she interrupted in order to make this man wish such a horrific death upon them? Surely defeating a few robots, as she now figured he was their creator or controller, was not worth dying in such a manner?

"Good, it seem you both understand," the man boomed, and he pressed a button on the side of the screen. "Once I have connected with my people downstairs, things will begin straight away!" He flashed another smile (Alaska could not help but wonder how his face was not getting tired), and glanced eagerly between them as if wondering who would be more distressed. Alaska looked across at her friend and could see Sandy was trying to stay tough, but her eyes were swimming with tears as they stared upon the screen that would soon show the death of their Pokemon.

_Sandy and Butterfree have been together for so long, _Alaska remembered. _What sort of psychopath would make someone watch the death of their oldest friend in the world? It's just like if I had to watch Paige die… which I am about to see as well…shit…but she cannot die, not like this, not after all this time! Whoever this dickhead is, he is not going to win, we are not dying without fighting back first!_

"MHHRRMRRRHHMM!" Alaska yelled into the tape, screaming so loudly inside her head but barely making a sound through the adhesive. She leaned the chair forwards as much as possible and then fell backwards, the sound ringing out inside the room. The man paused in his plotting and turned towards her, eyebrows furrowing at the disturbance. Alaska ignored the glare and watched him with huge eyes, refusing to look away even though every inch of his boy made her sick with rage. The man watched as she screamed and banged for over two minutes, and then his face softened, laughter once again filling the room.

"Ah, but of course, of course! The great Alaska Acevedo must have her last words before this begins," the man boomed, laughing joyfully. He strutted towards her, chest puffed out slightly, and loomed over her as he approached. Alaska caught a whiff of aftershave that nearly made her gag, but she kept on yelling, refusing to stop until she definitely got her way. "Very well then, _Alaska_," the man hissed through his smile, "I have always wanted to hear some of your famous insults, let's see what you come up with for me." He grabbed the corner of the tape, pinching her face as he did so, and slowly peeled it off. Alaska stopped yelling, her throat already getting sore, and stared up at her mysterious captor, trying not to grin now that she had a slim shot at victory.

"Has anyone ever told you what pretty eyes you have?" She said, and flashed her own wide smile. The man laughed briefly, but his face was lacking any trace of humour, and Alaska soldiered on before he could speak. "So, just out of curiosity, what _exactly _is your grand plan? I mean, if we are going to die, I don't see why –"

"Nice try, but I am not falling into that spy film trope," the man retorted quickly. "I am not going to tell you everything I have planned, convinced I have won, only for you to miraculous survive and use my own words to defeat me!"

"Ah, so you think I am going to get away then?" Alaska asked, and the man's smile disappeared, taken aback by the question. He looked uneasy for a moment, his calmness and control disappearing, but he quickly tightened the grip on his dagger and pointed it towards her neck. "I will take that as a no then. How about your name then, can I at least know that?"

"Why not, it's not my real name anyway – they call me Buzz," the businessman replied with a confident smirk, but Alaska could not help but snort at the letdown; she had been hoping for something more threatening, like Doctor Death, the Lord of Nightmares, hell, even Mittens would have been more of a surprise!

"Like the sound Beedrill's make?" She giggled. "Look at that Sandy, we've come full circle!" Alaska leaned around her intimidator as she yelled, winking at her friend and beaming. Buzz did not fake laughter this time, but instead lashed out, smashing his right hand into the side of Alaska's head before grabbing her by the jaw, pulling her face towards his own. Alaska winced as she felt pain in her neck, and wondered if he was going to snap it. However, he simply stared at her with cold rage, an anger that seemed to be casting a shadow across the room.

"You make think you are the greatest person that has ever left a shit hole like Viridian and set out on a journey, but you are WRONG!" Buzz snapped. "At the end of the day, when we dispose of what remains of your body, you will be remembered as just another little girl who had dreams of defeating Red and being Champion, only to fail miserably like the hundreds that came before you. If you had not stuck your nose in where it did not belong, this world would be a better place and you would have lived a slightly longer, safer life. I so desperately want you dead, but I want you to see the fates you have bestowed upon your Pokemon and your only human friend, and then you can die with a heavy conscience as you see the true consequences of your actions!"

"MHHRMMRRRHHHM! MHHHRRRRM!" Sandy began to yell from behind him, but Alaska did not pay any attention, staring back into Buzz's malicious eyes, ignoring the muscular hand crushing and misshaping her face; if she was going down, she was not going to go down silently.

"People will notice if I disappear. The cast of Indigo Dreams will wonder, my family will wonder, the gym leaders and all the elite and powerful of Kanto will wonder. You cannot kill us and get away with it; eventually, you will be found out and caught by people that are far more powerful than you could ever dream of being. I do not know what you are planning, but thanks to me, I am pretty sure you will never succeed." Genuine humour appeared on Buzz's face this time, a wide smirk unveiling his too white teeth.

"I am sure you sleep well at night thinking such a childish thought, but trust me when I say there is nothing anyone in Kanto will be able to do to stop me, not when they don't know who I really am or what I am truly planning," he replied icily.

"EHMMRRSKA! EHMMMRRSKA!"

"Team Rocket thought they were pretty great, and look where they ended up – crushed twice by children exactly like me," Alaska hissed in reply. "They were just glorified loonies that tricked the idiots of Kanto into thinking they were powerful, and you are just a tanned wannabe loser who thinks he will be the next Giovanni."

"EHHMMRSKAAA!"

"When I am done, Giovanni will be a distant memory!" Buzz snapped, shaking with rage. "I will succeed where he failed, I will bring Team Rocket back from the ashes, I will lead the world into a new millennium with Rocket as the rightful dominant power, and within a year no one will ever think that a stupid little Viridian WHORE was ever a threat against the likes of me!"

"So you're former Rocket, are you?" Alaska asked simply, and Buzz froze, the grip of her face instantly slacking.

"EHHHMMMMMRRRSKAAAAA!"

"WHAT IS IT?!" Buzz roared, turning around with his hands raised, but he quickly became still. Alaska wondered what was wrong, but it did not take long to realise that the room had gotten a lot darker since they had first arrived. The lights were still on, but a strange gloom now filled every inch of the office. Buzz looked nervously between Alaska and Sandy, struck dumb by the sudden change, but Alaska could see Sandy staring pointedly at the window. She looked curiously to her left, and Buzz caught her gaze and turned to face the glass, his mouth forming a perfect 'O' as he did so.

Alaska had only ever seen Zapdos once before, but then it had been flying above Vermilion in the midst of a violent terrorist attack. Now there was only a few metres and a piece of glass separating her from the legendary, and she could see every part of the creature in detail; the Electric type was a brilliant shade of yellow with black feathers beneath its wings, staring around the room with large, judgemental eyes resting either side of its javelin like beak. The Pokemon was so large that it was able to block all sunlight from getting it, but now that it had become the centre of attention, Zapdos began to glow, a lemon-like light spreading from the centre of its body that lit up the room. Sparks began to fly, and Zapdos pushed itself backwards, a shrill cry loud enough to sound through the glass.

"Wh… wh… what is this?" Buzz cried, stumbling backwards, the dagger falling to the floor. Alaska tore her eyes away from the magnificent bird, catching a stunned but joyful look in Sandy's eyes, and faced her captor.

"Some people might call this a legendary encounter, others might call it impossible, but I think you and I would refer to this as a miraculous survival," she said with a sweet smile on her face. Buzz turned to her, fear fading from his face and being replaced with pure rage, and he let out a scream like a tribal warrior, launching himself forwards with murder in his eyes.

It was at that point that the window shattered, and the entire room exploded within a burst of golden light.


	84. Chapter 61: Shock in the City

**Merry Christmas to all my readers! Thanks for sticking with the fic this year, even though it has been rather slow on the update front, but hopefully things can move along soon! I hope you enjoy this Christmas treat.**

**Chapter Sixty One: Shock in the City **

It was lunchtime on what was meant to be an ordinary day for the people of Saffron City. As many of those working in the heart of the city were business people, this was the time when the street was lined with men in smart suits and women in sensible heels, evacuating their respective office buildings and suddenly crowding the sidewalks as they rushed to the nearest, and usually cheapest, eatery within the vicinity of their workplace. It was a methodical and repetitive experience, a daily ritual that all office workers of Saffron went through: work till noon, eat and shop for an hour, return to the office, work till five, leave work, walk or drive home, arrive home, eat dinner, watch television, sleep and prepare for the next day. No one ever expected anything grand to happen when they went to work, and the highlight of their rushed lunch hour was usually a new soup of the day at the local café or bumping into a friend as you tried to make your way down dirty, litter strewn concrete catwalks. It was fair to say that the life of a Saffron City office worker was not an exciting one, one that the workers begrudgingly accepted, and they went on with their days simply hoping for it to be over.

So the appearance of Zapdos was definitely an improvement.

Workers stopped eating, they halted conversations and their heads turned to the skies as a massive shadow was cast across the street. Jaws dropped, eyes bulged, phones were whipped out to record this monumental occasion; a legendary Pokemon, one belonging to their Champion, had flown into their city and was hovering above them. The workers turned to each other, to colleagues and friends and strangers, they exchanged excitement, they debated why Zapdos was here and was hovering before Silph Co. They all knew this could be a moment to recount for years to come, something to tell their wives, husbands, children, families!

Everything changed when Zapdos attacked. At first, people were further impressed by the sudden display of electricity as the flying Pokemon turned bright yellow and unleashed a fearsome bolt. It took a few moments before people realised that there was now a gaping hole in the side of the tallest building in Saffron, and that many of the windows were now cracked and broken.

Within a minute of Zapdos' appearance, people had gone from bored to excited and now frightened; workers on the street abandoned conversations, they abandoned food and shopping bags, they simply fled as glass rained down upon them all. Screams turned from thrilled to frightened, and even people sitting comfortably inside became scared as they watched metre high shards of glass bombard the street. Food carts were obliterated, trees and rubbish bins annihilated cars and buses torn apart. Most manage to escape, but some were not as luck, yelling as shards cut their faces and necks, larger pieces getting them in the arms and legs. Victims collapsed to the street and people rushed to their rescue, but at the same time trying to protect themselves as glass rained down on them all. Those that remained indoors wearily watched Zapdos, who was now shrouded in smoke, and wondered why it had attacked, what was going on inside Silph right now, and many wished that their day had just remained boring.

* * *

Alaska woke up against the back wall of Buzz's office, unaware of the chaos below her, more concerned of the nightmare she was still trapped within in.

Zapdos had blown apart the office. The force of the electricity had shattered the window, firing glass into the enclosed space and tearing it apart; the couches were torn to shreds, there were deep groves in the wall, and Buzz's desk was shattered and marked with shards. The explosion from the Thunder had set the pot plant on fire, whilst cracking the wall and separating the metal Persian rug from the pit it protected. All the photos and degrees had fallen from the wall, and smoke floated around the room, a grey veil that Alaska struggled to see through.

_At least I'm not dead, _she thought wearily, and quickly checked her body to make sure flying glass had not impaled her. It took her several moments to realise that her hands were free, and Alaska looked excitedly around, finding that the chair had broken apart. It seemed the Thunder had thrown her across the room and into the wall, with the force of the collision breaking her chair apart. Her back and legs felt bruised and her head throbbed, but Alaska was simply relieved she had not yet been shot, and hell, she had had a headache since the moment she left Viridian – this was hardly going to slow her down.

"Sandy, Sandy where are you?" She hissed into the smog. There was no sign of either her friend or Buzz, and Alaska simply hoped that Buzz had been knocked out and she would get a chance to find Sandy before their captor awoke. A growling noise echoed throughout the room, and in the distance, Alaska could hear a whining siren, either coming from the streets below or on the other side of the wall. The door was to her left, and Alaska was tempted to make for it and get some help, but after all her experiences these past few weeks, she doubted Buzz would have begun torturing them without having someone outside to stop him getting interrupted.

_Hell, there is probably a robot guard dog, _Alaska thought bitterly. She freed herself from the remnants of the shattered chair, flexing and massaging her hands and legs for a few moments, but it was clear that she had not found freedom just yet. There was no still no sign of either friend or foe, and not willing to abandon Sandy to risk finding help, Alaska abandoned any idea of leaving the office right now and instead set out to arm herself and find her friend.

Alaska went to stand, but she knew that would expose to Buzz should he be conscious; instead, she sunk down to hands and knees, and, mindful of the shattered glass across the floor, crawled around the desk and into the open part of the office.

Now that Alaska concentrated, she was certain the alarm was coming from within the building, whining in the background of her latest nightmare. She tried to ignore it as she crunched over broken glass, doing her best not to cut herself, but the siren was on her mind now and Alaska found herself wondering what was going on in the rest of the building; where people fleeing from the rampaging Legendary, or was it a an alarm alerting Buzz's henchmen to the attack and sending them to their battle stations? It did strike Alaska as strange that no one else had come into the office; where was Buzz's back up? She thought surely someone else would be aware of his plan to torture and murder two girls in this office space, but not even his receptionist he come to check on him.

It was confusing, but Alaska forced herself to focus on the task at hand. The smoke was getting thicker as the fires continued to burn, Alaska noticing for the first time that the couches were both burning as well; orange and yellow light flickered in the heart of the room, flames growing as more of the leather was consumed. Alaska didn't find the extra threat helpful, but the light did highlight the pit in between the two, loaded with things she had been unable to spot before. She glanced around, making sure Buzz was not stirring, and she crawled rapidly forwards, barely registering as slammed her hand down a shard, slicing her palm open.

Alaska made it to the pit, but before she looked inside something else caught her attention; the 'whoosh' sound of flapping wings, a similar noise to what Paige sometimes made but much grander, sounded nearby, along with a deep, crackling groan that came from the back of someone's throat. _Zapdos_, Alaska thought, and she stared fearfully through the smog, seeing only the briefest hint of yellow; what if the bird was to attack again, would she survive a second blast of Thunder?

_Just what I need; to be killed by something that is meant to protect me, _Alaska mentally groaned, and she hurried along with her investigation of the pit. The screen had been blasted off its arm and now lay sparking alongside, its image now blank. Alaska had hoped to find out the fate of her Pokemon, but instead she fought back her fear and peered through what had survived; it was mostly uninteresting, a stack of discs in one corner, an array of multi coloured key cards in the other, but several hand guns and what looked like grenades made things more dangerous. She saw a metal sign to one side, half of which was melted and burnt black, and grabbed it to examine; only the letters AND were unmarked, but as Buzz had kept it, Alaska decided to pocket it, figuring it might be worth deciphering later. Satisfied, she glanced around but the only other thing of note was several rolled up blueprints placed to one side.

_So, you didn't want to tell me your grand plan in case I survived? _Alaska thought with a smirk, grabbing the top most one. _Well, maybe you shouldn't leave evidence lying around then! _She smiled to herself, despite the fact she was between two burning couches and had the pleasant stench of smoke creeping into her nostrils, and she unfurled the blueprint across the pit. The flickering light and grey smoke cast annoying shadows across the paper, so all Alaska could make out was the layout of a large, oval shaped floor building, which was crawling with official labels and scrawled, handwritten footnotes.

_Is this a stadium? _She thought, trying to furl down all sides and searching for a name, but it appeared to have been crossed out with black ink. _This definitely looks like a stadium… could it be… not Champion's Stadium? Are they… are they going after Red?_

"HOUNDOOM, WEEZING, CROBAT, GO!" Someone roared behind her, and Alaska jumped and turned; Buzz stood on the other side of the couch to her right, briefly being illuminated by three red flashes. The businessman looked demented, his face blackened by ash but his eyes shining white against the dark backdrop. His fine suit was in tatters on his muscular frame, and Alaska could see a piece of glass embedded in his left arm, but Buzz did not seem to care as he began to walk around the couch. Stunned, Alaska looked at the blueprints in her hands and, without thinking, tore the paper in two and threw it onto the couch. She then dived into the pit and managed to get one hand on a gun and the other on the remaining blueprints, but before she could turn around she was grabbed by the back of her neck, and Alaska gasped for breath as thick, hairy fingers began to squeeze her throat.

"YOU BITCH!" Buzz screamed as he heaved her upwards. "YOU HAVE RUINED _EVERYTHING_!" Alaska could see dots in her vision now, but she still tried to bring the gun around, her finger poised on the trigger. Buzz seemed to notice and grabbed onto it, and while Alaska held tight he was too strong and easily pulled it free. However, she was not going down without a fight, or at least without harming his cause further; Alaska threw the remaining blue prints onto the burning sofa, not knowing what was on them and now never being able too, but it was worth being ignorant to stop the madman

"NOOO!" Buzz roared, and he threw her forwards; Alaska gasped for breathe before landing on the other side of the pit, rolling over glass that attacked her skin before stopping just short of the edge. She was beginning to feel sick, her lungs desperate for air but the oxygen around her was being stifled by the ever thickening smoke. Wheezing, she could see Buzz trying to save his blueprints, but Alaska knew his attempts were fruitless and managed a smile.

"DOOOOM!" An angry roar sounded next to her, and Alaska suddenly scrambled backwards, turning to find a large Houndoom next to her. She had never seen one up close before, but the Pokemon had a reputation for being fearsome and violent; briefly, Alaska remembered how a girl at her school had been badly bitten by one and required extensive surgery. It was the most random memory to have in a situation like this, but it was all Alaska knew of Houndoom, and she slid across the floor to away from it.

However, Houndoom was not attacking her, and Alaska's attention turned to see what t was firing flame at; she looked around just as Zapdos soared past, screaming at the top of its voice, sparks flying from its body like yellow streamers. It was an angry but majestic beast, and Alaska would be forever grateful to the Pokemon for saving her, well aware its appearance was no coincidence. In hot pursuit of her saviour was a Weezing and a Crobat, two poisonous Pokemon spewing attacks left right and center; Zapdos fought back with powerful bursts of electricity, firing bolts across the skyline and shattering windows with each blast. Alaska could feel the heat of the attacks from here, could sense the electricity that filled the air; she wanted to sit and watch the fight all day, knowing it would be a truly epic battle to witness, and for a brief moment she forgot where she was, her mind drifting off as she remembered why she had left home, to see clashes like this…

"WHORE!" Buzz yelled, pulling Alaska back into reality, and she turned just as his meaty hands slammed into her, winding her with a single strike before heaving her by the shoulders and throwing her against the wall. He stared directly into her eyes, his face more enraged and deranged up close; Buzz held her tight, pressing his large body against and keeping her pinned against the wall. "I SPENT YEARS COLLECTING THOSE BLUEPRINTS, I HAD TO PAY PEOPLE, I HAD TO KILL PEOPLE, I HAD TO DO THINGS YOU WOULDN'T EVEN DREAM OF! AND IT TAKES YOU A MINUTE TO RUIN THEM JUST LIKE YOU HAVE RUINED EVERYTHING ELSE!"

"In my defence," Alaska wheezed, struggling to breathe as Buzz's massive body slowly squeezed the air out of her, "I wouldn't have been able to set them on fire if it wasn't for Zapdos, so really you should blame –"

"SHUT UP!" Buzz screamed, and he slapped her hard across the face before banging her head against the wall. Alaska could only see stars now, her head spinning and stinging and ringing. She tried to draw breathe but only got smoke, and coughed as Buzz continued to crush her. "I no longer have the pleasure of time or secrecy on my hands to properly ruin you, but there is still one _particular _way in which I can destroy you, one that will stay between you and me. And when I am finished, I will throw your useless body from my office as a message for Red so he knows what happens when people try to stop me! But…, of course, you really shouldn't blame me; I wouldn't be able to do so if Zapdos hadn't shattered the window." Buzz began to laugh manically, sadistically, evilly, right into her ear. Alaska was choking on smoke and her head felt cleaved in two, and her delirium was not helped by the blood pouring out of her body. She tried to break free, but she felt weak, unresponsive, phasing in and out of conscious; one second she could feel Buzz squeezing her shoulders, the next sounds of Zapdos screeching and sparking became crackling background noise.

"Relax Alaska, there is no point fighting anymore," Buzz hissed, and his massive hands moved away from her shoulders and slid down her sides; Alaska shivered in repulsion, but found there was nothing else she could do…

"Oh no you don't!" someone suddenly shouted. Alaska half opened her eyes, and for a moment she could see Sandy's shining blonde hair in the distance; but then Buzz was roaring in her ear, and Alaska cried out as she fell to the side, landing in a heap on carpet. Her head was spinning, but she saw Buzz collapse to his knees, his face red as he grappled at something that appeared to be jammed in a leg, but when he rolled onto his side Alaska could see it was really stuck in between.

"Come on Alaska, we need to go, now!" Sandy exclaimed, but Alaska did not have the energy to move or respond. She felt herself raise though, a softer arm around her middle, and soon Alaska was being half dragged towards the door, trying to make sense of what was going on as smoke turned the room grey.

"Did you… did you stab him in the balls?" Alaska asked.

"Well, I woke up and saw Buzz harassing you and I wanted to help but the only thing near me was the broken pieces of my chair. So I just figured a pointy bit of wood in the testicles was the least he deserved," Sandy replied, and she looked at Alaska and smiled. "It did seem like a good idea at the time." Alaska managed a laugh, but she still felt dizzy and barely registered as Sandy helped her through the office door and towards a cluttered desk. She was deposited onto a cushioned office chair, and Alaska sat there clueless for a what felt like minutes until Sandy forced it a polystyrene cup into her hands

"Drink up; I am going to need you focussed!" She said, and Alaska greedily downed the water in one long gulp. It was a few minutes before she could do anything else, but now that she sitting down and breathing clean air, Alaska could settle and refocus, letting her battered body rest for a moment, and began to think logically about the situation at hand.

"We have no idea who or what else is out there, so we are going to need weapons. Back in that pit Buzz had –" she began, but paused, stunned to see Sandy had a handgun tucking out of her pocket.

"Grabbed some after I stabbed him," Sandy said, smiling as she caught Alaska's eye. "I got a few grenades as well; they might just come in handy! Now, we need to get you back to reality and find out where the hell we are!" Alaska smiled into her empty cup, pleased to see that, despite their current situation, Sandy was still riding high on their earlier conversation. She suddenly realised that the siren had gotten louder, and she looked up to find a speaker in the ceiling right above her. Alaska went to comment on how irritating it was, but with a sudden jolt something else dawned on her.

"Where is his back up?" Alaska asked cautiously, recalling her theories about the alarm. "He must have had someone looking out for him, don't tell me they scampered the second that began to sound!"

"I have no idea, I can't see anyone around," Sandy said. "But to be honest, this doesn't seem like the lair for a criminal organisation. It just looks like… an office," she finished meekly. Puzzled, Alaska spun around in her chair, her head throbbing less now, and she was able to digest the scene before her; the floor was mostly open planned, cubicles spread out in the middle with printers, photocopiers, decorative pot plants and art work and water coolers scattered about. There were several closed off offices, but the doors were open and there were no sounds or signs of anyone else being there. Upturned chairs and dropped papers made it seem as though everyone had scampered the second they heard the alarms, and not a single person had stayed behind to check on Buzz. However, as far as Alaska could see, she had to agree wit Sandy; it did simply look like a random office. No machine guns lining the cupboards, no henchmen preparing to kill them, not even a pentagram painted in blood. It was simply an office.

"Maybe he was acting alone after all," Sandy whispered, staring towards Buzz's office as smoke began to seep through the open doorway, "but why bring us here of all places? We seriously need to get out of here and find some help!" She said determinedly. Alaska nodded, and she carefully rose to her feet, placing her hands on the desk to steady herself. She began to turn to Sandy when something suddenly caught her eye; pausing, Alaska grabbed an envelope lying by the keyboard, staring at the two words she had recognised, and her jaw dropped as she read what else was there.

"Come on Alaska, we need to move before anyone else shows up!" Sandy wailed as smoke began to fill the floor. "Buzz won't stay down forever, and we don't have any idea where we are, so –"

"We're in Saffron City," Alaska hissed, turning and passing the envelope across. "Level 87 of the Silph Company Building, to be precise – the television production department." Sandy was confused, and she stared at the envelope and the letter inside, her face quickly filling with shock while Alaska stood silently, struggling to stifle her own surprise.

"Buzz Bolton, executive producer for… Indigo Dreams?!" She whispered, and Alaska gave a curt nod. For a moment the two simply stared at each other, alone in the massive, empty floor, the siren screaming all around, neither sure quite what to do now.

* * *

Buzz crawled across to the pit. He was weak, he was in pain, but he was burning with rage and nothing would stop him now. He could feel warm, wet blood around his thighs, and Buzz recoiled at the thought of the injury Sandy had imparted on him – but then, it only made him want to kill them more.

Ignoring his Pokemon as they continued to rage against Zapdos, Buzz reached his pit, nestled between the two burning couches, and he pressed a button near the sparking remains of the hydraulic arm. There was a whirr and a groan, and the rectangular box slid aside, revealing a narrow passageway under the floor.

He had known it would be a risk to bring Alaska here; his workplace, the disguise that he had built up for the past five years, one that was so good and he played so convincingly that sometimes Buzz thought television was the place for him. There had been other options; disused warehouses, abandoned houses, dark forests, islands in the middle of the ocean, dozens of perfect locations for committing murder. However, the one thing those places didn't have was technology, and Buzz knew that was where he could win.

The Silph Company Building was the most state of the art, advanced tower in Saffron, most likely Kanto and potentially the world. After an attack by Team Rocket, one which Buzz had been apart of, Mr Silph had rebuilt his families legacy with security in mind. Part of that had been the ability to shut down every floor, elevator and stair well with the push of one button, and secret passageways and rooms had been built so people could hide should they require it.

Buzz knew every inch of these passageways, and knew of some that very few other people did. He had been building a criminal empire inside these glass infused walls for five years now, and that was the one true advantage he had over Alaska Acevedo. If they had been out in the open, Alaska had the opportunity of running away, something she was quite capable of. But here, there was no place to run and there was nowhere to hide.

"The bitch is loose on my floor," Buzz growled into his a radio he clasped firmly in his hands, trying his best to disguise the high pitched tone he had now had. "She is unarmed and she is injured; find her, find her and kill her, and bring me back her corpse: I want to see the great Alaska Acevedo silenced forever." Buzz threw the radio aside and silently slid through the escape chute, trying to forget his pain and thinking instead of the great pleasure he would feel when he finally saw Alaska's cold, lifeless, unmoving body. Smiling, Buzz disappeared into the darkness, leaving his office to burn.

**So there we go; ending the year with a threat for the new year, and Alaska and Sandy finally learn some more information. You will have to tune in next year to see what the revelations about the reality show and the robots will do to their cause, and hopefully I will have the Saffron Arc done by February. Until then, Happy New Year! **


	85. Chapter 62: Science behind the Madness

**I will say now that there is perhaps a tad more swearing and violence then normal, so be warned.**

**Chapter Sixty Two: Science behind the Madness **

"Do you want to know how I know this place is rich?"

"How?"

"This stairwell is fancier than my entire fucking house," Alaska replied with acid. She stared with contempt at the smooth, unmarked white walls that enclosed her and Sandy, the shining metal railings that had been polished so they sparkled as brightly as silver, the stairs that had been painted different colours to signal the many different departments.

"This stairwell has more colours than all of Viridian!" She added with an indignant snort. "Who exactly is Mr Silph showing off to? 'Ooooh, look at me, I can afford to paint my staircase five different colours, and I piss gold and shit bronze in my flying emerald outhouse!"

"I'm sure if you had the money for that dream house of yours, you would probably use more than one colour of paint for your stairs," Sandy replied with a smirk. She paused as she reached another landing, a heavy grey door barring them from moving onto the next floor. Sandy fiddled with the door handle, but it refused to budge. "Another one locked."

"If I had some money, I would not waste it on paint," Alaska continued as they moved down the next flight. "I would just buy a ton of jewels and craft my entire house out of rubies and sapphires, and maybe a few emeralds as well."

"That would be subtle of you," Sandy laughed. "What would be next, diamond encrusted door handles? A pearl infused bathtub?"

"Something like that," Alaska replied with a wink, and the two laughed as they strolled down the next flight, their laughs echoing inside the empty stairwell. The two had quickly decided that they could not risk staying in the Television Department, not with their Pokemon stolen and a killer on their tail. Once they found the lifts inoperative though, they had resided to climbing down from the eighty-seventh floor and finding somewhere else to recuperate or someone to help them. So far, they had climbed down about ten flights, but they had still not yet found an open door, and were both beginning to wonder if they would have to climb down the remaining seventy-seven flights to reach the bottom.

"This one's locked as well," Sandy sighed as they passed another one. "If we end up getting trapped in here, I am going to blame you! You insisted we come down here!"

"Would you have preferred we stayed in Buzz's office, either choking to death or having our throats torn out by Houndoom?" Alaska snapped icily, and with those words their humour disappeared, both their faces sinking. It had been nice to joke for a few minutes, but Alaska knew there was no point pretending anymore; they were trapped and alone in one of the most prominent buildings in Kanto, their Pokemon and possessions stolen and in danger, and all the while one of the biggest shocks they had received so far was hanging over them, a dark cloud that they were struggling to process.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped," Alaska sighed. "It's just learning about Buzz and the reality show, it's quite a shock, you know?"

"Do you… do you think they knew?" Sandy whispered her voice suddenly soft and sad. "Lachy and Damian, do you think they know who their producer really is? I know we aren't really friends with them or anything, but after all the times we've met them… after yesterday… I couldn't bare to think they have been plotting against us this whole time!"

"What?! No, of course not! They can't have," Alaska replied, trying to sound sincere, but she was not sure what to believe anymore. The revelation that the man who had just tried to kill them was also responsible for Indigo Dreams was strange, confusing and ultimately unsettling, and Alaska's mind was reeling as she tried to process all this information. Everything Buzz had said about them interrupting his plans made more sense now, but Alaska was not sure what role Indigo Dreams had to play in the bald man's grand plan; somehow, the robots, Buzz and the reality show were all interwoven and building up to something big, potentially happening at Champion's Stadium. Alaska knew they would have to warn someone about this, such as Daisy or the Athlews, but in to do that she needed to get out of this building and find her Pokemon before Buzz caught up with them once more.

"Damnit, another one locked!" Sandy hissed, cutting through Alaska's thoughts, and she turned to find her friend banging against yet another unmoving door. "What's the bet we make it all the way to the bottom and _none _of these damn doors are going to be open!" Sandy snapped, and she angrily kicked out; the lightweight however simply bounced off the solid surface, nearly falling down the stairs before Alaska grabbed hold of her.

"Come on now, keep it together!" Alaska scolded, though she tried to keep a smile on. "You are always the calm one that's supposed to stop me from injuring myself! What's wrong with you today?" Sandy sighed as she steadied herself, and she looked at Alaska with wide, mournful eyes that were red around the edges.

"This is all just so infuriating!" She groaned. "After last night, I thought we had finally managed to get a grasp of this stupid situation; we were both in a good place, and I was hoping we could spend a few more days staying away from everything. But it's less than twenty four hours later and everything has changed already and I can't wrap my head around it! How are we supposed to have any control over this situation when we have no idea who to trust or who we are even fighting?" Alaska knew if the situation had been reversed, Sandy would be offering her something comforting right about now, but Alaska could not think of anything when she felt exactly the same way.

"We will find out what everything means eventually," she said, "if we survive, that is. Meeting Buzz could actually fill in some pieces of the puzzles; Gideon can't have built the robots if one of them nearly killed him, and Trevor and all those elites have always implied there was something else going on here. This is all one big puzzle, and every psychopath and every murder and every ghost and every stuck up rich women with cobwebs in her pants is just another piece we have to slot in."

"That is perhaps one of the most disturbing mental imagines you have ever given me," Sandy said wearily. "I'd almost laugh if I didn't think the last thing we'll ever see is a multi coloured staircase." She looked down at the painted concrete beneath her feet and furrowed her brow. "Your right, Mr Silph is a douche – what sort of pretentious dickhead paints their fucking staircase?"

"Why Miss Samson, I do believe you just said a swear!" Alaska gasped, and she melodramatically faked fainting. Sandy finally cracked a smile, and the two friends began to laugh once more. They could have kept it up for minutes, however, a sudden crash sounded nearby, and the two seized up, looking frantically around for the source.

"Down there!" Sandy hissed, and she pointed at a door two flights down, a crack of yellow light seeping through an open gap. The two girls exchanged looks before sprinting down the stairs, pulling out their stolen guns as they did so. Their footsteps echoed inside the deep stairwell, and Alaska felt dizzy as they took three steps at a time and raced around corners, but neither of them was going to lose this opportunity. Muffled voices came from behind the door as they got closer, but by the time Alaska and Sandy they reached it there was not a single sound coming from behind.

"Maybe they heard us," Sandy whispered, her voice barely audible. "They could be arming themselves!" She added frightfully

"Maybe they are, but we for once, we're armed too," Alaska replied, smiling confidently at her friend, and she kicked the door open and stepped inside.

This floor seemed like it belonged to a completely different building to the offices below; rows and rows of benches filled the area, laden with everything from computers and stacks of folders to test tubes, microscopes and strange machinery varying in heavy machinery at the end of each row. Everything was bright and white, giving off an sterilized feeling, and the fluorescent lights shone off every surface. The lifts and doors were the same as above, but there were no rows of offices like the production floor, and there were no windows, simply more walls trapping them in. It seemed deserted, and Alaska stared tensely around, wondering if the voices had been imagined. However, something glinting caught her eye, and Alaska looked down at the tiled floor and saw a large piece of glass a metre from her feet, looking out of place amongst the order.

"There are still people here," she whispered, and she held her gun tighter, quickly gazing around the rest of the floor; there was a boardroom near the stairwell, but Sandy was already looking inside, so Alaska briskly marched down the rows, looking for anything shifty. There were definitely odd things here, with beakers holding strange liquids, pieces of what appeared to be flesh pinned to rectangles of glass and several jars that smelt like death, but as far as Alaska could see there was no one around.

"I can't see anyone," she called out. "I think we are in some sort of research lab, there is all this creepy and nerdy crap around, and this place just seems synthetic."

"No one's in the boardroom either," Sandy yelled back. "I can't see where else they would be though, unless they escaped into the lifts before we got here."

"The lifts aren't working, remember – I'm pretty sure the entire building has gone into lock down," Alaska replied. She sighed and turned around, trying to find somewhere that people could be.

Suddenly, two figures leapt out from nowhere, white coats flickering as they landed centimetres in front of her. Alaska quickly raised her gun, but before she could fire, a screaming Sandy unleashed a hail of bullets upon them; there were several loud gunshots that mixed in with her hysterical cries, but after a few seconds the gun simply clicked uselessly, though it took a few more moments for Sandy to realise and halt what she was doing.

"Are you quite done?" Alaska hissed, and Sandy nodded fearfully, tossing her now useless weapon aside, her bullets having hit no one. Eyes rolling, Alaska turned back to face the two figures, and saw they both had thin metal rods in their hands, presumably meant to be weapons, but Sandy's gunfire had stopped them in their tracks. Alaska smirked and raised her gun, but she was startled when the figure to her left looked towards her, and distant recognition signalled in her head.

"Alaska Acevedo!" The man gasped. He was lean and lanky with a thin face and pointed rat like features and Alaska was finally able to click who he was.

"Mr Melton!" She said in equal shock, lowering her gun as he lowered the rod, and she felt a strange mixture of surprise and relief. "Sandy, this is Mitchell's dad Alistair. I forgot you worked at Silph Co.!"

"Well, I had heard you had left on your journey, but I never expected us to cross paths in such a manner!" Alistair Melton said, his face practically glowing now with relief. "What on earth are you doing here though, and why have you not evacuated the building?"

"Why haven't you?"

"We were right in the middle of an experiment when the sirens went off and we had to stay behind to finish," Mr Melton explained. "We had just finished when Samuel heard laughter in the stairwell and thought we were under attack!" Samuel, who was much younger with messy black hair and a round, freckly face, blushed at this, but Alaska did not give him a second glance.

"That was just us thankfully," she replied, though her mind was suddenly spinning; she was aware she would have to lie about why they were here, otherwise, trusting they got out alive, Mr Melton would tell her parents all about how she had been kidnapped and nearly tortured, and that was the last thing Alaska wanted. "We were just seeing someone we know from Indigo Dreams in the production offices, and then Zapdos suddenly attacked and Sandy and I were knocked out. When we came to, the entire floor was empty, the lifts weren't working and we had no choice but to head down the stairwell. This is the first open floor we've come across."

"I'm not surprised; the old building was attacked and destroyed several years ago, and with all these attacks in Sevii and Vermilion recently I suspect everyone thought things were happening again and couldn't wait to get out," Mr Melton explained grimly. "The entire building shuts down after a few minutes and all doors get locked from the stairwell. The Scientific Research and Development doors lock from the inside too, so we would have been trapped in here if we hadn't propped the door open." Alaska looked back, wondering if they had shut it on their way in, but thankfully there was still a thin gap allowing them to escape.

"How we are going to get out of here then?" Sandy piped up as she joined the quartet. "If the entire building is shut down, how will we get through the entrance?"

"The building will only remained locked as long as Zapdos, if what you said is true, is a threat; once they remove it things will be fine," Mr Melton explained calmly. "Doesn't our Champion possess him? I'm not sure; I don't follow gossip that much, or Pokemon news really! I only ever care about Pokemon when we're studying them," he added, gesturing with his head the way he had come. Alaska and Sandy both turned and for the first time saw a corridor leading to the other side of the floor, though it was unsurprising they had not yet seen it; there was only a thin gap of the tiled floor that was not filled by massive white boxes the exact colour of the walls.

"Do you want to take a look?" Alistair asked, seeing the curiosity on their faces, and he led the way between the boxes. It felt claustrophobic, stepping away from the harsh whiteness and into the enclosed corridor, but what was more startling for Alaska was the fact they were not boxes but cages; about a dozen different species, including several Rattata, a Beedrill and a muscular Poliwhirl, were housed within the five metal walls, with a sheet of glass separating them from the outside world.

"Can they breathe?" Alaska asked, staring incredulously at the confined Pokemon.

"Yes, and before you ask, they are perfectly happy in there," Alistair said, with the tone of someone who was judged on this matter frequently. "They have been loaned to us by their trainers, and they get returned after we are done with them. The cages have panels that are similar to those inside a PokeBall, recreating the Pokemon's natural habitat, so they do not feel out of place."

"What exactly are you using them for?" Sandy asked.

"Various things; these Zubats, for example, we are testing a special type of repel that only works on them," Mr Melton explained, pointing to a smaller box in which a trio of Zubats were flapping about. "And we were recently donated an Eevee by the Athlew family to look into its evolutionary make-up." Sandy's jaw dropped, her eyes bulged, and she looked excitedly at Alaska before rushing over and pressing her face against the cage, making sickening cooing sounds. Mr Melton seemed taken aback, and it took Alaska a few moments in her frazzled mind to make sense of it.

"Oh yeah – we stayed at their house for a while, and Sandy bonded with the Eevee cubs," she explained.

"Well, in that case then, why don't you say hello properly!" Mr Melton cried, and he pressed a button on the cage; the glass slid open, and Sandy squealed as the small furry Eevee leapt into her arms. Alaska smiled broadly, pleased to see Sandy happy after their troubling revelations. She wanted to relax too, but Alaska couldn't when she had no idea what was going on around them; the windowless walls gave no view of Zapdos outside, she didn't know if Buzz was coming after them (though she smirked to herself at the fact he wouldn't exactly be coming at anything for a while…) or if he had sent henchmen, Houndoom or even robots to hunt them down, and the thought of remaining in the one open floor in the whole building was not reassuring..

"Is there anyway of contacting the ground floor and explaining our situation?" She asked, briefly noticing Samuel's eyes bulge as if in horror but ignored him.

"We have working phones, but if there is a crisis I doubt they will be manned," Alistair replied, walking back over while Sandy played with Eevee. "Trust me Alaska, things will be sorted soon enough! We have some free time to ourselves, you should be relaxing, not fretting – it's not like anyone's coming to kill you!"

"You don't follow my blog, do you?" Alaska replied with a smirk

"I am not much of a blogger," her old neighbour replied with a chuckle. "We have some time spare until you and Sandy can go, so why don't you tell me a bit about your adventures? You left around the same time as Mitchell, have you seen him at all?"

"We've crossed paths a few times," Alaska said with a careless shrug, "but we don't really stay with him for that long, something always happens that forces us apart again. I am sure he would have told you about all those," she added. However, she received no response, and Alaska looked across to see Mr Melton's face had sunk.

"Actually, no… no, I haven't heard much from him… it has been a few months now since we last spoke, if I am too be honest…," Alistair replied, his voice going high and slightly squeaky. Eevee gave a delighted squeal from behind, and the scientist turned to face them. "Umm, actually, on second thoughts Alaska, we will discuss that later," he said, and quickly walked into the corridor and began rapidly explaining the experiments to Sandy. Alaska was taken aback by her neighbour's rash change of topic, and she stared at his back in wonderment; was there something going on with Mitchell or his family she was unaware of? She looked away, not sure quite what to make of that situation, and found that she alone in the lab with Samuel; the assistant was yet to say anything, but he was looking at Alaska was a strange mixture of embarrassment and seriousness. Alaska was unnerved by the bizarre watchful look, and stared absently around for a conversation to distract them.

"What are the rest used for?" She asked drolly, raising her eyebrows at Samuel. For a moment, he remained as red faced as a school boy, but then his awkward frown stretched into a wide smirk. Cautious, Alaska took a step backwards, a sudden but familiar feeling that something was about to go wrong seeping through her body.

"We were asked to work with them; to study them, to watch how they move, how they act, how they react to friends and foes," he replied, his voice slow and cold. A bang sounded distantly in the background, and Alaska fearfully looked around but saw nothing. Samuel took a step closer, and Alaska tensed, staring defiantly back at him even though she now felt sick, aware of what this was. "And do you want to know what we use that information for?" He asked quietly.

"No, why don't you enlighten me?" Alaska asked forcibly, looking at the others for help, but Mr Melton and Sandy were distracted by the excitable Eevee. Samuel suddenly lunged and grabbed onto Alaska's right arm with sweaty palms, and he leaned up right next to her ear, his foul breathe warm against her skin, making her spine shudder.

"We build robots," he hissed. Alaska's froze, a million emotions rushing through her head, and her eyes turned to the cages; there was a Beedrill sleeping at the bottom, a Golem housed in the largest one near the back, two Electrodes were sparking only a few metres away. Samuel began to laugh, and Sandy and Alistair turned curiously as shouts echoed from somewhere nearby. Alaska could not process the fact she had walked right into a trap, but anger quickly replaced her shock, and she turned bitterly to face the freckled foe before her, her heart beating cold rage throughout her body.

"Oh fuck you," she hissed and brought her gun around; Samuel stopped laughing as the handle hit him in the nose, blood spurting out both nostrils as he stumbled towards a desk. He hit the floor with a thud and Alaska felt brief satisfaction, but there was no time for joy. "SANDY, WE NEED TO GO!"

"What is going on, why did you just attack my assistant?!" Alistair gasped, watching Alaska in horror, but Sandy pushed past, the Eevee cradled in her arms and fear spread over her face. Alaska ignored the question and she began frantically considering their options, but it quickly became clear they had none; scarce weapons, no Pokemon, and there was nowhere to run in a completely sealed building. This was the most trapped Alaska had ever been, and she tensed up as Sandy looked pleadingly at her, unable to think of a way to escape her enemies when they had control over her surroundings.

There was the sound of a door slamming, and Sandy and Alistair both gasped. Slowly, fearfully, Alaska turned around, well aware all hope was draining away.

A crowd of men stood before them.

A dozen muscular men stood at the other end of the floor in front of the boardroom, huge black machine guns resting against their meaty chests. They all wore similar snarls and sadistic smirks, combinations of scars, shaved heads, stubbly jaws and black and khaki coloured clothing to add to their intimidation. Alaska stared across them, wondering how they had gotten in when the door appeared untouched. She looked at the gun in her hand and knew it would do little. She stared at the two people on her side, but fear and shock had made them freeze as well. They were vastly outnumbered and had nowhere to go, trapped in the middle of the floor.

Essentially, they were screwed.

"So, I take it you men aren't here to learn about the wonders of science?" Alaska asked casually. Some of the men chuckled deeply, others grunted, but one stepped forwards, his face mostly hidden by greasy black hair and a matching bushy beard, and raised his weapon upwards.

"To be honest with you sweetheart, the only science I give two shits about is how my machine gun here works," he said with a gravely snarl. "Want to take a closer look?" The henchmen laughed louder at that, and before Alaska could respond a metal rod appeared around her neck, and she was suddenly pulled back against Samuel, the rusty iron wedged hard against her throat. She tried to speak, but Alaska found herself unable to breathe for the second time today. Samuel grabbed the gun from her hand and threw it aside, and the bearded man stepped forwards, cackling.

"Girl, you have no idea how many people want you dead, and we are just the ones to make their wishes come true!" He sneered, to the laughter of his cronies, and he pointed his machine gun directly at her head. "They all have different requests, but let's give you an option. So tell me dear, how do you want to die; head or heart?" Alaska could not help but stare fearfully at the big black weapon as the man edged ever closer, the barrel suddenly seeming so wide as if it would obliterate her with one bullet; she fought against the rod against her throat, Samuel breathing creepily against her neck, but she was rapidly losing her strength and was close to passing out. Was this really going to be it…

"Excuse me," Sandy suddenly called out, stepping forwards with her hands around her back, and the bearded man stopped, turning quizzically towards the blonde. "I just wanted to check; do you men work for a Mister Buzz Bolton?"

"Yes, I think that's his name," the man responded with a shrug.

"Good, good; and are you here to kill me and my friend?"

"Um… are you blind dear? Obviously!" He sneered back.

"Oh no, of course not, I just wanted to make sure before I did this," Sandy said, and she whipped the gun around and fired; the man gasped as a bullet slammed into his chest, blood quickly pouring out of the wound and down his shirt. His weapon fell to the floor, and he stared, along with Alaska and the other gunmen, in shock at Sandy.

"You shot me… they didn't tell us you'd have guns…" he mumbled, before collapsing against a table and knocking over a row of beakers.

"Yeah, well Alaska and I are hard ass mother fuckers now!" Sandy hissed with the level of sassiness Alaska had only previously seen in hairdressers and angry housewives, and she pointed the gun at the other men. "Samson and Acevedo at your service, and we aren't being messed around with ANYMORE! So you can go back and tell Mr Bolton that we say _heeey_, and if he thinks he's messing with us than he has another thing coming!" Her voice boomed inside the confined space, and even though she was rapidly losing oxygen Alaska still managed to feel proud. The remaining gunmen exchanged quizzical looks with each other for a few moments, then another one, this time a bald man with black stubble, stepped forwards.

"You are aware we still outnumber you, we have bigger guns than you and we still control the building and have possession of your Pokemon?" He said, his voice slightly higher than his dying colleague. Sandy paused, mulling this over, her eyes moving between the handgun grasped in her hands and their opponents twelve or so machine guns that were about quadruple the size.

"Oh right…," she said, realisation washing over her. "Umm… that's a tad awkward, isn't it? So your not going to leave then, are you?" The bald man shook his head as he lifted his weapon up. "Ah, thought so… well then… all I can really say is DUCK!" And Sandy turned towards Alaska; the black haired girl tilted her head automatically as the gun went off, and Samuel cried out. Machine gun fire began to sound throughout the floor, glass shattering and equipment exploding, but Alaska miraculously was not hit; Samuel was still standing but the bullet had startled him, his grip on the rod slacking, and Alaska used the opportunity to grab on and pull it off her throat, taking a sharp intake of air before lashing out at the table in front. Her feet pushed off it and she and Samuel went crashing to the floor, avoiding a hail of bullets as the gunmen turned their attention towards her, the ammunition instead hammering into the walls.

"EEEEEEVEEEE!" Sandy's friend shouted, and Alaska briefly saw a purple-black ball soar through the air but her attention was focussed on Samuel. She rammed an arm into his stomach just below his ribcage, and the traitor assistant yelled out, his hands flying from the rod. Alaska seized it and spun around, smashing it across his head repeatedly until Samuel's eyes fell shut, a long red graze now across his forehead. Relieved, Alaska threw the rod aside, well aware it would be pointless against machine guns, and turned back to the battle.

"SANDY, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" She shouted.

"I'M FINE!" Sandy yelled back, quickly followed by three gunshots as she took aim at the gunmen. Alaska saw her friend and Mr Melton were hiding between the cages, the Eevee a few feet out firing attacks at the gunmen, and she realised she was very much exposed right now. Staring around, Alaska looked at the nearest table and saw it was not attached to the ground.

"IS THIS EQUIPMENT EXPENSIVE?" She yelled at Alistair.

"EXTREMELY!" He roared back, his voice shaking with fright.

"Oh well, I've broken worse," Alaska mumbled and she leapt up and grabbed the end of the table; with a mighty heave that made her arms and back groan, she tipped it onto its side, computers, beakers and microscopes smashing to the ground. Alaska rolled up against it as bullets instantly smashed into the surface, making significant dents but the table thankfully held.

"Sandy, use the grenades!" Alaska shouted. Sandy nodded over at her and pulled a pin from one of the small grey capsules. She lobbed it over towards the slowly advancing gun men, and Alaska peered around, waiting for the explosion; however, instead of fire and heat, a thin jet of grey smoke was unleashed from the top, spraying the nearest man in the face but doing little else.

"A smoke bomb… great, the one time I actually _need_ to blow something up and it's a dud!" Alaska hissed. She could see that no one had fallen yet, and Buzz's gunmen were systematically emptying their weapons, half aiming for the table around her and the other aiming at the small gap between the cages. The only thing saving them were the crowded tables, the heavy equipment and computers taking the brunt of the bullet barrage, and the multiple rows were forcing the men to move slowly as they navigated their way forwards, perhaps weary of getting too close in case Alaska had any other weapons up her sleeve. Unfortunately, there was very little she could do; for once, Alaska had nothing she could whip out and use to defend herself or fight back, nothing that would stop herself getting shot in the head at least. She simply leaned back against the table and stared across at Sandy, whose gun was coming up blank, and a frightened Mr Melton, trying to think of some miracle solution.

_I never would have thought I'd die alongside one of my neighbours, _Alaska pondered as she watched stared across at the father of her of the biggest nuisances in her life. Alistair Melton was leaning against a cage, his entire body visibly shaking, eyes shut tight as if it would end the nightmare. It struck Alaska as almost full circle, coming all the way from their joint homes in Viridian, only to find death looming over them in the exact same location. The question of his reluctance to properly discuss Mitchell still struck Alaska as odd, and she looked at Mr Melton, wondering what secrets there were hidden in that head of his, and why he had not fled to the other half of the floor, as if he could somehow help them leaning against the cages.

_Actually… _Alaska thought, a thought rushing through her head. She stared back out at the incoming swarm of men, and saw that the smoke bomb was spewing a grey vapour across them, quickly engulfing the gunmen as they tried to get through the tables. Alaska smiled; it would provide enough cover to allow her a chance to reach Sandy, but they would need a distraction. Thankfully, despite her earlier thoughts, Alaska could see now they were not totally unarmed.

"MR MELTON, THE CAGES – OPEN THE CAGES!" She roared. Alistair looked up fearfully at the sound of his name, but then he saw Alaska and her words clicked into place. Alistair Melton jumped to his feet, his fear quickly melting away, and he ran past all the cages, slamming his palm against the buttons. Sandy jumped aside as the glass doors disappeared, and suddenly nearly two dozen Pokemon were racing out and heading for the gunmen; Alaska had learnt enough from her travels to know the sounds of battle would activate the Pokemon's natural instincts to protect their territory. The gunfire ceased and was replaced by screams replaced, roars and growls quickly filling the room instead. Alaska seized the opportunity and sprinted forwards, only briefly staring at the chaotic scene before her; smoke now filled the floor, hiding everyone in sight, but in the few seconds she watched Alaska saw Beedrill, Zubat and Poliwhirl came in and out of the vapour, each duelling a different gun toting henchmen.

"It worked!" Sandy squealed excitedly when Alaska reached them.

"No thanks to you," she said with a beam at Mr Melton, and the lanky man smiled youthfully back. "I'll make sure to tell Mitchell next time we see him about how his father may have just saved our life!" Alistair continued to beam and opened his mouth to talk, but it appeared Alaska had spoken to soon; an angry roar sounded from behind, and they turned just as the bald man lunged out from the smoke, a shard of glass clutched in his hands. Sandy screamed and Alaska pushed her out of the way, and the henchmen missed and collided into Mr Melton.

"Run!" He bellowed frantically, quickly grabbing onto the gunmen's arm. Alaska was taken aback, and for a moment she stayed, trying to find a way to help her neighbour. But Alaska was unarmed and her throat still hurt from where the rod had dug in; she merely nodded at Mr Melton and turned, hoping against all odds he survived, and with nowhere else to run, she and Sandy sprinted into the smoke.

There was something acrylic about the way it smelt; Alaska gagged and held her shirt up to her nose, and Sandy did the same, though she had more of a struggle as the Eevee was bundled up in her arms again. The two run up past the lifts, automatically heading for the stairwell and a chance of getting away before any gunmen noticed them. It was hard to see through the smoke, with anything more than a few feet away disappearing from sight; they could only hear the cries of the gunmen and the shouts of the sparring Pokemon, with the occasional smash of glass or metal clang of equipment falling. There seemed to be no gunfire though, and Alaska moved quickly, desperate to escape.

"Alaska Acevedo?" Someone cried, and instinctively Alaska turned; a man emerged out from the smoke, but it was clear he was no gunman; he was thin, the grey in his hair exemplified by the smoke, and was dressed in a long, tattered brown coat. He stared at Alaska with both glumness and franticness, and she paused, not sure how to react.

"Ummm, yes, why?" Alaska replied cautiously, her eyes flickering to the door but her curiosity was overpowering her need to survive.

"Thank god I've found you – you need to come with me right now!" The man said, reaching out for her arm, but Alaska stepped backwards, looking at him in revolt. Suddenly, like a dam bursting, all her anger and confusion came spilling out at this stranger, unable to hold it back any longer.

"Listen here buddy, I don't know who you are or what you are doing here, but if you know who I am, you are aware that I have great cause for being a teensy bit untrustworthy when it comes to meeting mysterious strangers, especially when it happens in the middle of an ambush by the henchmen of someone who was prepared to viciously murder me for interrupting his reality show. So unleash you have some damn good evidence to prove you're on my side, I will gladly kick you all the way back to whatever backwater ditch you emerged from!" Alaska finished, her chest heaving, the entire battle besides her going ignored. The strange man looked puzzled for a moment, but then his face spread into a smirk.

"You remind me of several young ladies I dealt with in Sinnoh," he said with a strange smile. "If you must know my name, it is Looker as far as you're concerned, but the most important thing to know is that if you want to live, you are going to need to trust me, starting from now," he continued, and before Alaska could say anything else, he shoved her sideways towards the lifts. There was a chance Alaska wouldn't have minded this, but there was just one problem.

The doors were open, but there was no lift waiting.


	86. Chapter 63: Parental Consideration

**Chapter Sixty Three: Parental Consideration Advised **

_I wish my days stopped ending up like this, _Alaska thought bitterly as she plummeted seventy floors towards her doom.

It was freezing inside the elevator shaft, made no better by what rapidly falling from an extreme height did your body; Alaska was battered by cold air that was forced into her eyes and ears, a wind-like noise deafening her in the silent lift shaft. She was forced to shut her eyes against the generated breeze, but it was so dark that there was little to see anyway. She could, however, feel the closeness of the walls she was falling between, her outstretched fingers brushing against cool stone and icy metal. Alaska could barely control her body though, the shock stunning her, the speed stopping her from acting, leaving her falling like a puppet cut from its strings, tumbling and twirling through the air, unable to prepare for what comes once you start falling…

However, for once, Alaska had a tiny glimmer of hope; the mysterious Looker knew who she was and wanted her to trust her, so she had a feeling he had a reason for shoving her into an empty lift shaft and, as a result, was not going to let her die. So instead of focussing on the shock or the landing, Alaska shut her eyes and disappeared inside her head; things seemed to slow down, her mind drifting away from the tingling sensation of falling, and Alaska thought back on all that had happened in the past twenty four hours. She had nearly been killed by a wave around this time yesterday: Alaska knew a normal person would be concerned by this, but she could not help but see the funny side, surviving a certain hell one day only to find herself in another the next...

Thanks to the unsettling information she had learned today, Alaska could see several pieces of her bizarre puzzle falling into place. She know knew the faces of her enemies, namely Gideon, a madman scientist she was connected to only by chance, and Buzz, the man seemingly behind the robots who was purposefully targeting her, though the specifics for why were lost on her. One of her prior encounters with the show must have done more damage on the meticulously planned ratings event than she realised, but Alaska could not place her finger on what.

Nor could she quite work out what role _Indigo Dreams _itself had in things, though she knew must be some level of awareness there. It occurred to her now that they had been captured yesterday after setting up camp in close proximity to the reality show, the first time they had done so, and that Amanda had been very frustrated by their appearance. Sandy had mentioned an unease about the thin lipped, tight arsed woman, but Alaska did not want to leap to any presumptions about anyone else on the show yet, not when she had no way of knowing how much the really stars knew about their boss…

Alaska remembered what she had told Sandy twenty minutes ago, and she hoped that it was true, but knew these doubts about the stars would linger, burrowing their way into the back of her head until they got the chance to prove them either true or false. She could not be certain, not after weeks of unsettling surprises at every turn, but Alaska hoped the stars (even Chloe) would prove to be innocent. She had spent much of yesterday afternoon talking to Damian; it had been nothing of importance, merely discussing their journeys and their Pokemon, however it was not the type of conversation Alaska wanted to be marred by a revelation of his betrayal…

Alaska opened her eyes, unable to bear dwelling on it any longer, and was stunned that she could just make out the bottom of the shaft, a solider mass of darkness than the shadows she had fallen through. She tensed up, wondering now whether she would face blinding, deadly pain, or a miraculous survival, but then what would the rest of her day spell? Briefly, as the concrete prepared to greet her, the many mysteries that still dogged her rushed through her mind; the attack on Vermilion, Suicune and Zapdos, Gideon and the fossils, what purpose the robots served, the prophecy; somehow, all these things and many others were connected, and Alaska hoped she survived, merely to see what this puzzle looked like once it was completed. Yet the ground was coming ever closer, tripling in size every second, and there seemed to be nothing waiting to stop her…

Suddenly, almost as quickly as it begun, Alaska stopped.

She blinked rapidly, and was horrified to find her nose a centimetre above concrete. Alaska looked around frantically, wondering what was holding her up and if there was still a chance of falling; but instead of going forwards, she rose up, tilting backwards until she was upright, and then was placed softly on her feet.

"Well… alright then," Alaska muttered, rather taken aback by her sudden survival. She glanced about the lift shaft, trying to find what had saved her, but a sudden screaming distracted her; Alaska looked up and could see a familiar head of blonde hair falling through the darkness; Sandy was not quite as relaxed about the whole experience as Alaska had been, and her screams were loud enough to rouse everyone in Saffron. Alaska stepped cautiously backwards, not wanting to get crushed once again by a falling Sandy, and tensed up, waiting for the saviour to make itself known…

About a second before Sandy hit concrete, a pair of pink eyes flashed in the shadows, and she stopped instantly. Her screams carried on though as Sandy wiggled frantically about, eyes shut and hands clasped tightly around a rather unimpressed Eevee.

"Shut up Sandy, you're not going to die just yet," Alaska snapped, grabbing her friend by the collar and hauling her upwards. Sandy fell quickly silent and looked around, shaken and dazed by the experience, but Alaska left her behind and stepped over wires and metal poles, heading towards the source of the pink eyes a few metres away.

"I know there is a Pokemon here, so you might as well show yourself," she called, trying to sound friendly. There was a moment's pause, and suddenly dazzling white light illuminated the shaft; a tall, humanoid Pokemon stood proudly before her, long, sword like green arms held respectfully at its side as it gazed down at her. Red triangles came through its front and back, and Alaska got the impression that this was a creature born for fighting, not for hiding in lift shafts.

She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly the creature's eyes flashed pink again, and Alaska turned as Looker and Mr Melton landed gracefully on the concrete, the latter looking rather shaken up, unsteadily collapsing against the wall. Alaska could now see they stood on a square of concrete, surrounded by three solid walls, a number of wiring and piping and metal frames separating them from the other lift shafts.

"I see you have discovered my Gallade," Looker said calmly, as if falling down lift shafts was nothing of concern. "He is very useful in situations like these – excellent Psychic precision, you usually find Gallade are better fighters than thinkers, but mine is both."

"That's wonderful," Alaska said icily, quickly forgetting her awe at Gallade and wheeling around to face the stranger. "Now, would you mind explaining who the fuck you are and why you threw me down here?" Looker's face sank and turned sour, and he reached into a pocket and retrieved a golden badge, which he held up for all to see.

"I am a Senior Investigator working for the International Police, codename Looker," he explained. "I arrived here to investigate reports into connections between the television department and recent events in Kanto. My brief was to hack into the network and look for any information to prove these connections, which can only be done from within the building, but I was interrupted when Zapdos attacked and the system began to shut down. I was about to leave and investigate why Zapdos was here but I had just gained access to the security cameras on Level 87 and discovered you were here." Looker paused, and a slight smile spread across his face. "I have heard a lot about you, Alaska Acevedo, and I must say it is truly a pleasure to finally encounter you."

"International Police – so you must know Trevor and Daisy?" Alaska asked.

"Indeed, and I was told that if I ever encountered you to say both are well and hope to meet you again soon," Looker replied. Alaska nodded, but was silently elated at the fact both were safe; she was now sure how they would have survived either circumstance, but it was a relief to know neither had died trying to save her.

"Once I learnt you were in the building and possibly in danger," Looker continued, "I realised I would need to rescue you before leaving the building. I was held up accessing floor plans and the remaining security cameras before the system crashed, otherwise I could have gotten to you before you reached the precautionary trap it seems Mr Bolton set for you." At this, Alaska could not help but glance at Mr Melton; her old neighbour still looked flustered by his freefall experience, but at the mention of the chaos that had consumed his workplace, his face seemed to darken slightly, a mixture of what Alaska perceived to be both anger and shame.

"Well yes, thank you for saving us, but how exactly is being in a lift shaft going to help us escape?" Sandy asked incredulously. "And Buzz still has our Pokemon and our bags locked away somewhere in the building!" Looker turned to her, his face falling into a frown, and Alaska had to say that the man seemed quite moody.

"Ever since the old building was destroyed and this one was built," he continued, turning slowly away from Sandy, "there have been many rumours about Mr Silph having a number of safety rooms built in case Silph Co. was ever attacked again. It seems that these rumours are true, as the floor plans reveal an expansive basement area, and the security cameras show a variety of used and disused spaces down here. I believe at least some of these safety rooms have been utilized by Mr Bolton for whatever his plans may be, and if we go there now, we should be able to find your Pokemon, and perhaps learn more about what is being planned.

"There is a reason why I choose to tell you all this at the bottom of this rank lift shaft. You see, the lifts are designed to reach these secret floors – specifically, the lift that normally travels up and down this shaft, but is currently stuck on Level 93. All you do is type in the code or swipe your key card, and the wall right behind you opens and the elevators slide through." Alaska, Sandy and Mr Melton all turned to look at the wall behind them, but it simply looked as dull and dirty as the rest.

"Do you have the code?" Alaska asked.

"No, but I am a master hacker and I brought something with us with the necessary tools– Mr Melton, your swipe pass please." Alistair looked startled by this request, but before he could move a thin piece of white plastic flew out from a pocket, glowing pink, and Alaska watched as Gallade directed it towards his trainer. "All I have to do now is make the system accept Mr Melton's key card as being one of those that has the code, and then we are through!" Looker concluded, pulling a sleek tablet device from one pocket. He quickly typed in the details from Mr Melton's card and then loudly tapped away for another minute. Silence fell, and Alaska briefly glanced upwards, wondering if any gunmen had survived the Pokemon attack, and what they were doing now…

"And there we go," Looker said after several minutes, dramatically tapping the last button, and everyone looked at the wall; there was a groan of gears, pins and locks being removed from their safe little homes_._Alaska watched in amazement as a section of stone slid backwards about three feet before disappearing into the wall to their left.

A long tunnel was revealed, one that reminded Alaska of an old fashioned mine shaft from her dads old movies; the walls were of the same concrete blocks at the lift shaft, but the only lighting were narrow fluorescent tubes set every few metres, and the stone floor was covered in a thick film of dust separated only by metal tracks, presumably for the elevator.

"Oh joy," Alaska murmured sarcastically. "A dark, gloomy, dust filled tunnel – there must be fun times waiting for us at the end of this!" She glanced at Looker and raised an eyebrow, but the spy did not seem to share her humour.

"Now you listen to me; I want to go in there even less than you do," he snapped. "I have had more than my fair share of dealings with criminals over the years, and I was hoping that Trevor and Daisy could handle this investigation on their own. However, their involvement with you has compromised their abilities to be incognito and forced me to return to the field! Now, if you want to get out of this building alive then you will stop the jokes, listen to my orders and go down the damn tunnel without complaint!" His voice echoed so it seemed like dozens of angry people were shouting at Alaska. She stared defiantly back at the spy, but she knew after a few moments he was not going to be worn down, at least not as easily as the others; instead, Alaska nodded to show she understood, and at the same time wondered what exactly had made this man so bitter.

"Good; now follow me," Looker snapped before stepping inside the tunnel. Sandy with Eevee quickly followed behind, seemingly frightened into action by her telling off; Alaska gestured at Mr Melton, and her former neighbour reluctantly climbed in after, leaving her and Gallade to bring up the rear.

"Looks like you're going to be my guard of honour!" She said, turning to Gallade and smiling, but the Pokemon did not seer to hear and walked past her, and Alaska rolled her eyes as she stepped into the tunnel. "Does no one have a sense of humour these days? You'd think we were all about to be killed!"

The walk through the tunnel was dull and silent, no one talking as they marched across the carpet of dust. There was no sound, only their softened footsteps and their breathing, amplified by the tightness of the walls. Gallade continued to glow, but the light only extended as far as Mr Melton; he and Alaska were bathed in the pearly shine that turned the walls white, while Sandy and Looker were barely visible in the darkness ahead. Alaska realised she had never been alone with her neighbour before, but currently a tension lay between them, one he may not notice, but Alaska could not ignore what she had learnt back in his lab.

"I bet you didn't think your day would turn out like this," she whispered, unable to bear the silence anymore. "You wake up, you go to work, do your job, go home; wash, rinse and repeat. Something like this must have never happened before."

"No… no it hasn't," Alistair said quietly back, his voice hushed and shaking. There was a pause, and then: "and you, Alaska? Did you think your day would turn out this way?"

"I hoped it wouldn't, but I am not surprised it had. Usually though I get to wake up and do something first before the shit catches up to me. This is not the first time something like this has happened to me Mr Melton, and, trusting I survive today, it won't be the last – not until I stop everyone behind this massive mess. And, unfortunately, you currently count in that equation," Alaska finished with a touch of coldness. Alistair Melton stopped abruptly in his tracks, his feet kicking up a small cloud of dust. He turned and faced Alaska, and in Gallade's glow his face was thrown into great detail; it was older and more lined than Alaska remembered; his hair was greyer than before, and his eyes looked red and tired, the purple sheen of his lids shining grimly in the unfortunate spotlight.

"I hope you do not hold me accountable for those robots," he whispered, staring deeply and pointedly at Alaska. "I was never told what they were to be used for. My department performs experiments on Pokemon for the purposes of serving the company, testing various products and equipment to determine what will go on sale. We have done some robotics work in the past, creating realistic test dummies to replicate rare Pokemon, and a year ago Buzz Bolton asked us to build a variety for his new show. We were contractually obliged to, as we were to hire Samuel as an assistant and liaison to the department. I… none of us did… we never thought there was anything suspicious with them…"

"Even though they were rigged with explosives?" Alaska asked pointedly, and Alistair's dull face changed into an expression of complete shock.

"Explosives? What? I have never handled explosives before in my life!" He said, mouth hanging open in horror. "We simply examined the Pokemon they requested and created designs before delivering our plans to Level 87. The Mechanics Department actually constructed the machines. I never made any plans for any explosives or weaponry, we were just told they needed robotic Pokemon – they must have altered our plans later on." The two had not moved for a couple of minutes now, and Alaska could no longer see any sign of Sandy or Looker, and the muffled sounds of their footsteps had disappeared. However, she felt as though any movement would disturbthe stillness and silence they had shrouded themselves in, a cloak of doubt and blame that lingered between the two_._ It felt strange to Alaska to be confronting her old neighbour like this; or indeed that a man she had lived next door to could be so intrinsically linked to her, to have played such a mighty hand, whether he was aware of it or not, in her life these past few months. What a strange thing to discover, after having dealt with men and women that were famous throughout Kanto and around the world, to have encountered murderers and spies and aristocrats and assassins all involved in this interlinked, interwoven conspiracy_,_ and yet Alistair Melton was too involved…

"I… I have to ask…" Mr Melton suddenly spluttered, and Alaska snapped out of her thoughts and looked back at him. "Mitchell… you said you've encountered him a few times… when you have been attacked by… by my robots… has he ever been with you?"

"Yes," Alaska replied curtly, seeing no point in lying. Mr Melton nodded stiffly, and Alaska could see his had tensed up; she could only imagine the images her answer had conjured up, the terrible pain that must come with unknowingly putting your own child in such danger. "Now I have to ask – earlier, when I brought him up, you seemed very reluctant to talk about Mitchell. Why is that? Is there something going on at your home?" Alistair did not say anything, and for several moments Alaska wondered if he had actually heard her, his face showing no sign of recognition, his eyes nearly lifeless as the scientist disappeared beneath his own fears.

"It is a difficult thing to do, to let your child leave home on a journey," Alistair said after several moment, though his voice was so low Alaska strained to hear him. "You are letting your child choose a very limited and particular life path for themselves, and after everything that has happened, with Team Rocket and Galactic and all those people, Wendy and I were uncertain about letting him go. But… but we thought it would be safe… there had been no incidents, no attacks or anything, we thought it was a harmless time… Mitchell so wanted to go, and who we were to deny him of this choice, especially when you were going, the only other person he had really been close to." Alaska was taken aback; she was sure Mr Melton did not intend them this way, but it seemed a lot like she was being blamed for Mitchell's journey, as if she had forced him into it; had Mitchell really looked up to her that much?

"Once a child leaves, it is difficult to stay in contact, even with all those devices they have these days," Alistair continued. "And… and… and when things go wrong… when you hear that they have been explosions and terror attacks… when you can't find out whether your child was involved or not…" He paused here, his voice having become high and hysterical but still quiet, and Alaska saw a new side to him she had never seen before – one she had never seen in any adult. Mr Melton was shaking, his body jittering so violently she felt concerned, and tears poured down his cheeks as his face contorted into something of pure anguish; mouth ajar, throat contorted, only a pained gurgling making it through. Alaska thought it would be inappropriate to interrupt, and instead she stood silently, watching and waiting, thinking…

It was a minute before Mr Melton regained himself; he reached up with his hand inside his coat and dabbed his eyes. When it came down, his face was blank again, and his eyes refocused as if he had just woken up. He looked down at Alaska for the first time in several minutes, and she could see concern and sadness behind his glasses, the last of his tears still hanging around his eyelids.

"I didn't want to discuss Mitchell before because it can be too painful at times," Alistair said, his voice louder but still sombre, still pained. "We receive occasional letters and the odd phone call, but asides from that we try not to think on him. That may sound cruel, but it is the only thing for a parent to do when their child disappears off into the wilderness – the only thing you _can_ do when cities are being bombed and entire islands are being annihilated. Otherwise I would never be able to do those things you said before; I couldn't go to work, I would never be able to sleep, I would be up all night sick with worry, imagining Mitchell lying dead in the middle of some unknown field on the other side of Kanto. You have to detach yourselves from your children; you have to make yourself believe they are somewhere happy, calm and safe where they cannot possibly be hurt, and you get along with your daily life telling yourself that is the case and not letting anything tell you differently. And now I must contend with the guilt of knowing my son could have been harmed by something I was forced to create, and it is time I go and find out why that nearly happened."

Alistair turned away the second he had finished speaking, perhaps unable to look at Alaska any longer, not with the revelations of his involvement in Buzz's plans standing between them. He quickly marched away into the darkness, moving with such determination that his feet disappeared beneath a haze of dust. Alaska followed a few seconds later, but walked at a much slower pace, suddenly feeling as if she was carrying a large burden with her.

Was this the same thought process her parents were going through? Were William and Robin Acevedo sitting at home right now, watching television or preparing a meal, telling themselves Alaska was fine, telling themselves that she could not possibly be involved with any of the chaos that was currently plaguing Kanto? Alaska wondered when she had last spoken to her parents or tried to make contact – in Celadon, hadn't she called from the PokemonCenter? It had only been a short time ago, but in the whirlwind nightmare she was trapped in everything was a blur. Had Alaska ever talked to her parents about the things she had seen, the people she had met, the horrors she had faced? Did they know she had nearly been killed by a number of robots, or that she blown up a generator purely to make a point? Had she even told them about her badges – that was why she had left home, after all; to prove that she and Paige could conquer the league alone. Here she was, four steps into that master plan; was that what her parents thought, that she was merely training and battling, fighting for glory instead of fighting for her life?

The real question was though; how would they feel if they knew the truth? Did they deserve the right to know what she had been through? They would surely demand it of her if they had suspicions, but how would they react, how would they cope? Alaska thought of Mr Melton's reaction a few minutes ago, she thought of Sandy's father, alone in their house with no idea where his daughter was; did he even care, was he looking at the news and worrying for his missing daughter?

There was a grunt, and Alaska stopped, startled; her feet had carried her towards the others without her realising, and she now found Looker, Sandy and Mr Melton standing before her, a solid wall bringing them all to a halt. She felt her face may give away her troubled thoughts, and quickly settled it into an expression of impatience and tiredness that she felt they may expect. She looked between her fellows; Sandy looked weary and nervous, clutching Eevee tightly to her chest; Looker's face was serious but gave away his tiredness, perhaps his lack of desire to be here and his unwillingness to carry on; Alistair almost looked expressionless, but he could not hide the fear that shone through in his eyes, his mind clearly still dwelling on the possible fate of his son.

"Now that we are all here," Looker said coldly, his eyes flickering between Alaska and Alistair before turning back to the wall, "I believe this is designed to part only when it senses a lift coming," he explained in hushed tones, examining what appeared to be solid stone. "However, I believe Gallade should be able to open this."

"Gal," Gallade said shortly, and he silently stepped between them, casting the quartet directly in light before raising his arms against the door; suddenly, the light disappeared, and Alaska felt as though she had been swallowed, darkness instantly surrounding her. The tunnels bulbs did little, and Alaska suddenly felt alone, lost, trapped, the fact she was inside a confined space heading to confront potential murders dawning on her for perhaps the first time. She raised her arms, feeling around in the darkness, and felt immense relief as her left hand grabbed onto another person, and they held her hand in response; she was not sure if it was Sandy or Alistair, but it was reassuring to know she was not alone.

"The second the door opens, we need to make a break for it," Looker whispered. "I cannot promise what is waiting for us there, but the way I left things in the lab, hopefully they will not suspect we are coming. Gallade and I will attack, you three stay behind and we will find your bags before doing anything else. Are we all clear?"

"Yes," the other three replied, though Alaska noted she was not the only one who sounded unenthusiastic, who sounded concerned about what was about to happen.

"Gallade, are you ready?" Looker said from somewhere in front, and Gallade must have nodded as there was no response from him, merely the loud groaning of metal pistons and gears being twisted against their will. "Alright, let's do this… on the count of three… one… two… THREE!"

The door slid open with a thud, and light poured inside the tunnel; Looker leapt out first, a handgun raised, and Alaska followed, dragging Sandy with her, their hands still entwined. Then went Mr Melton, and finally Gallade stepped out with his arms raised like a shield. Alaska's head was still spinning from her conversation, making it hard to take in any details of the room they'd stepped into; the ceiling was high, a large amount of empty space above them, while the walls and floors were still stone. For a moment, Alaska thought it was empty, only able to hear her own, constant thoughts…

Then there was a groaning, the sound of something heavy being lifted; their eyes all turned towards the wall to their right, which was suddenly and slowly rising upwards. Looker cried out and turned, but the door behind them had already shut. Men burst out from hidden doors, heavy black machine guns clasped in their hands; the group froze, hands raised, but Alaska's attention remained was on the rising wall, which was now halfway open, and what stood behind.

Shock silenced her. Alaska stared straight through the gathering gunmen, her attention fixated on what awaited them on the other side of the wall. The only thing she registered was Sandy's grip on her hand intensifying, and Alaska could feel that her friend was as terrified by the sight as she was.

Laughter, great booming laughter echoed inside the stone square. A voice in the back of her head told Alaska it was Buzz, but she did not know until he began to speak, yet even his words could not pull her attention away.

"To think after all the trouble I went to you almost got away again!" He hissed from afar. "But you are not getting away this time; I have caught you, and I am finally going to see you dead! However, I thought you deserved one last little treat before you suffer the worst pain you will ever feel. This will be the last image you ever see; it is time you saw what you are really up against, Miss Acevedo, so you can die knowing you will not have to suffer the horror I am about to unleash on Kanto."

And a horror it was. Alaska felt like surrendering there and then; there was no way of beating him now. She had scarcely escaped the Beedrill, the Golem had been too close a call, and the Electrode had nearly claimed her life, and none of them she had managed to defeat herself. But standing on the other side of the wall, rows and rows of robots were waiting, possibly hundreds of glistening, metallic monstrosities, insults to nearly every species of Pokemon, but unstoppable, murderous machines, an entire army under Buzz's command.

An army Alaska knew she could not beat; this truly was defeat.

**The end may jar with Alaska and Alistair's chat, but I felt it would have been a poor way to start the next chapter to have a big reveal right at the start, so it had to close this way. Hope you enjoyed it though and the next chapter will be BIG!**


	87. Chapter 64: Fun Times at End of Tunnel

**Chapter Sixty Four: The Fun Times at the End of the Tunnel **

"I must say, I thought for a few minutes there that I may have lost. I cannot tell you how _relieved_ I am things have gone back to plan – I would hate to think what may have happened if you had gotten away."

Alaska tried her best to ignore the words, knowing that Buzz was attempting to goad her on, but she could not ignore them, not when they echoed inside the cavernous safe rooms, not when his metallic army surrounded her on all sides.

Alaska felt powerless as they were led in single file between past robots. They were the last thing she wanted to see, yet she could not look away; one row contained Electrode like what had attacked her in the tunnel, the next had Raichu, large and imposing, their shine hidden by realistic fur. Then there were a trio of Sandslash, their iron claws and spikes resembling daggers, while the Graveler standing behind seemed to have been crafted with actual rocks. There were so many Alaska could not take them all in, but Buzz seemed to have prepared a wide range; Lickitung and Vulpix, Kadabra and Growlithe, a Gyarados that filled an entire row, even the Kanto starter Pokemon were there, Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle robots standing neatly in line, like small children waiting for their teacher.

_This is sick, _Alaska thought, finally looking away and staring forcibly into Mr Melton's head bobbing in front of her. _Testing Pokemon, tricking people into creating weapons, letting them loose. This bastard is planning something, and I want to know what it is…_

_But, what will I be able to do to stop it? _A second voice hissed, and Alaska resisted the urge to scream in rage and desperation. This was the problem she could not shake; how the hell was she meant to defeat these robots? None of her Pokemon had the abilities to tear about metal; if Alaska and her team could actually make it out alive, how would they ever be able to defeat Buzz and this indestructible army?

And there was the other big problem; escape. Alaska peered around Mr Melton and saw they were being led through a doorway, while behind them the wall was coming back down, cutting them off from the tunnel that had been their only hope. They were being shut in, and if they wanted to get out, a few walls and two armies stood in their way.

Alaska reluctantly followed Mr Melton through the doorway, but was stunned to recognize the room they entered; it was what Buzz had shown them eighty floors up. She wanted to make a break for it and run towards her bag, which still lay on a lone table besides Sandy's, but Alaska could see the gunmen were filing in with them, their weapons poised and ready to shoot if she even stepped out of line. With a stifled sigh, Alaska merely glanced at Sandy, whose eyes had widened fearfully at the sight of her purple bag, and her grip on the frightened Eevee seemed to have tightened.

A black-clad henchman gestured with his gun at the wall, and Alaska, Sandy, Looker, Alistair and Gallade stepped backwards towards the cold brick; the second their backs were against the stone, about two dozen guns were raised and pointed at their chests. A trio of Houndoom had been sent out, their razor-like teeth bared, knees bent ready to pounce, had been sent out, and they stood like sadistic guard dogs before them. Alaska tried to avoid them, but she could feel their hot breathe wafting over her, and she had a feeling they were not just there for Gallade.

For a few moments, silence filled the square room, a tense quiet that pressed down against Alaska. Trying not to imagine the metallic army in the other room, she glanced at her fellow prisoners; to her left, Looker at the end wore a face as though bored with proceedings, but his eyes were darting tensely around the room; Mr Melton was twitchy and screamed of having nerves, his eyes flickering about more frantically, rubbing his hands against each other; Sandy was to her right, and Alaska was pleased to see that while her eyes were as round as saucers and fearful, Sandy stood tall and proud, seemingly ready to fight, holding her rescued Eevee tightly.

However, Alaska was becoming more drawn to the fourth member of their team; Gallade had not tried to fight back, had not shown any fear of their situation, and currently was staring blankly forward, not even watching the prowling Houndoom. Some may view it as stupidity, but Alaska could tell that Gallade was focussed, perhaps psychically scanning the room. She looked at Eevee for comparison, and saw that the furry Normal type seemed uncomfortable and uneasy, disdainfully watching the Houndoom and armed men before them, and became even more curious; how strong must a Pokemon be to willingly enter a room where it could potentially die, simply on the command of their trainer. Alaska's eyes finally fell on her bag lying several metres away, and her mind turned to her Pokemon, how they could soon be dead without even realising it, without getting a chance to fight back…

The silence was broken suddenly by a squeaking noise; Alaska looked at the doorway a few feet from Looker as Buzz entered the room, the producer sitting calmly in a wheelchair and being pushed by one of the henchmen. Alaska watched as her latest foe paused in the middle of his men and wheeled around; Buzz smirked at them, hands resting calmly in his lap, now dressed in a long dark robe that did little to hide a bulge around his middle.

"Would you like a Meowth to stroke while you're sitting there?" Looker said drolly, and Buzz laughed highly in response, but his eyes did not the sound, instead watching the spy with anger.

"No thank you, Agent Looker, I am perfectly comfortable – and I must say, it is a pleasure to finally be able to meet you. I have heard much about your work in Sinnoh, and I was wondering if we'd ever cross paths."

"By the end of today, you'll wish you hadn't," Looker replied coolly.

"We'll see," Buzz retorted quietly, and it was now that Alaska finally clicked what had changed about him; his voice had lost its cold deepness that had shuddered through her body back in his office. It was higher now, not as pitched as Mitchell's but more as though he had sucked a bit of helium. Alaska struggled not to laugh, but she did manage to just catch Sandy's eye, and the two exchanged the briefest of smiles.

"Now, I am sure our male guests are wondering why I have brought you here," Buzz began, smiling softly at Looker and Mr Melton. "I am sure Alaska and Sandy recognise what is on the table, but for the spy and the scientist, those bags belong to the young girls next to you. They have not been messed with since being brought here; everything that was in them last night is still in there, including all of their PokeBalls.

"Next to you, you will see a computer," he continued, and gestured lazily towards a table besides them. Alaska had been too focussed on the guards before to realise it, but now she turned and took it in; it was several years old, with a chunky monitor besides a number of wires and a hefty hard drive piled on the desk. "Mr Silph built these safety rooms with a number of defensive measures in order to fully protect his employees from future attacks by people like me. That computer is to communicate with the outside world and between rooms, but it also controls this room's anti-terrorism systems. As I briefly mentioned earlier Alaska, there are pipes in the walls and ceiling, pipes that can, for example, spray oil across every surface or that can fill the room with concrete – two very gruesome, uncomfortable ways to die, I am sure, but you will all experience for yourselves soon enough." Alaska kept her face calm and defiant, and stared boldly back at Buzz as the wounded businessman grinned maliciously at her, but her heart was beating faster and faster, their impending death closer than ever before.

"However, before you all die," Buzz said, turning away from Alaska, "I want you to tell me Looker, what drew your attention to my plans? I am curious as I have been ever so careful with covering my tracks." His smile widened so much that Buzz now resembled some manic clown, and his eyes bore deeply into Looker. The spy did not look fazed by the bizarre look and did not respond for several moments, looking back at Buzz as if they were having a staring contest.

"The International Police have been watching you for several months now," Looker replied eventually. "Your name change and new hair colour did fool us for some time, but our face recognition software was able to match your features with some of the only footage we managed to retrieve from ChronoIsland. However, despite our best practices, you have indeed been protected behind the security measures of Mr Silph, one reason I presume why you came here to work. If it was not for Alaska here and all her blogs about, you may have gotten away with it, but other agents read between the lines of her posts and saw connections between the events she described and the man behind the reality show."

"Ah, I see, I see, so you came here today to find some actual evidence to use against me then?" Buzz asked, and Looker casually nodded. "Excellent, looks like Silph's paranoia has paid off; it has forced my enemies to enter my territory in order to gain information, and they cannot even make it out alive. But now, if you have done your research properly, surely you would have had to tell the League what you know? Why have Red's legendary pets not come knocking before?" Alaska turned to watch Looker as Buzz's words washed over him; for the first time, the spy looked uncomfortable, the confidence he wore wavering, his face sinking.

"That information is not for me to disclose; this is not my mission, I have merely adopted it," he replied, his voice quieter, but it seemed to be what Buzz wanted; he tipped back his head and roared with laughter; it was loud and cruel inside the confined space, and there was escaping the triumphant cackle as it echoed incessantly.

"Of course, the Indigo League will deny any attacks against them until their stadiums lie in ruins around them," Buzz boomed, his smile wide and vicious. "What old fools they are, ignoring signs when they are right in front of them. If they had only taken more notice, they would not soon have the deaths of two thirteen year old girls resting on their consciences." Buzz stopped laughing and turned to face Alaska once again, the humour lingering on his face. Alaska was confused by their exchange, wondering what both had meant and tried casting her mind back but failing to come up with anything; however, she now felt annoyed, having thought for a few minutes that this puzzle had begun to make sense, only to see that it merely got bigger with each piece she found.

"Now, my lovely dears, things are back to how they should be," Buzz purred as he greedily eyed Alaska and Sandy. "You nearly escaped from me, you nearly outsmarted me, and you managed to wound me, but all you have done is make me angrier and cleared my mind. I thought torturing you would be fun, that it would make up for all the time, money and pain you have cost me, all the embarrassment I have faced thanks to you both, but I see now that you two are like a virus; you have to be killed quickly before you can spread and get worse. So now you and your Pokemon can die together, all of you getting buried slowly within fast setting concrete, and I will watch as you endure a nice painful death, one that will give you time to reflect on all your actions.'

Buzz flashed another wide grin and clicked his fingers; the henchmen that wheeled him in walked briskly towards the computer keeping his eyes forward, not even looking at the people he was about to kill. Alaska angrily watched him strut across the room, but she became distracted; out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr Melton suddenly looked more focussed, his tense, nervous demeanour disappearing, his hands clenched in fists by his side. Alaska could see her neighbour was not looking at Buzz or the gunmen, but was instead staring at the computer, his eyes wide and serious. Alaska watched him until Alistair finally noticed and glanced down at her, his face a mixture of fear and anxiousness, but her old neighbour looked back at the computer, then back to her, and slowly, he winked.

"Before you kill us, I want to know," Alaska yelled, turning quickly away as her mind began plotting; Buzz looked at her with vivid curiosity, and he raised a hand, making the grunt pause next to the computer. "I have to know; what is the deal with the robots and the reality show? What do they have to do with each other and me?" Buzz smiled wickedly, a grin that lingered for several seconds, and Alaska slowly reached out and grabbed Sandy's left hand, at the same time looking back at Gallade, projecting her thoughts out to the universe; was the blank faced Pokemon able to hear her?

"I suppose there are some things I can tell you, though I am not telling you everything," Buzz purred. "Ever since you interrupted the first challenge back in ViridianForest, you have thrown a spanner into my plans, and every time you appear, every time you stuff up a show or anger my contestants, I have had more reason to wish you dead. The robots have a role to play in this, but I sent two of our more defunct ones after you; when both failed to kill you, I became more desperate, and set up multiple traps. I had a footbridge in Diglett Tunnel damaged, and I hired a gunman to kill you should you make it to the Rock Tunnel; all those places were dark and confusing, and your deaths there would have meant weeks before anyone found your corpses."

"When you unexpectedly appeared at the Power Plant, I had the local barman paid off to poison your drinks should you enter his establishment. Unfortunately, you and Chloe fought before you could take a sip, though your friend would have died had she not been shot and bled out the next day. It was a foolish plan, but it just shows how desperate I have been to kill you; my hatred has made me sloppy."

"That doesn't really answer my question though," Alaska replied, though she did shelf away the information in the back of her mind, several minor details falling into place. "What purpose do the robots serve, and why are you hiding behind a reality show?"

"Did you get the picture out there?" Buzz snapped, his anger shining through as he gestured at the door. "They are my army, creatures I have created to defy anyone that stands in my way, and –"

"There was a Beedrill at ViridianForest," Sandy interrupted, and Alaska took the chance to watch the henchmen; their guns were still raised, but each one was looking between their boss and the two girls, none even looking at Looker and Alistair at the end.

"The robots _had_ a role to play in the show, before you botched that up," Buzz hissed. "None of this would have ever happened had you not gone down into the Beedrill Nest; we may have never met, Miss Acevedo, and the robots could have filled their original purpose."

"So this all comes back to the reality show then?" Alaska asked, almost forgetting her mission at the possibility of answers. Buzz paused for a moment, his lips curling back into a smile, and all of the gunmen now watched for his reaction.

"My dear, have you not worked it out yet? _Everything_ comes back to Indigo Dreams."

"NOW!" Looker yelled, and Alistair shoved Alaska forwards as he ran towards the computer. The gunmen were taken aback by the sudden change, and Alaska used her momentum to sprint forwards, pulling Sandy with her, and she had nearly reached Buzz before the shooting began; gunfire echoed within the small room, and Alaska felt several bullets skim past her, but nothing hit and she reached Buzz without injury. Her enemy's eyes widened as Alaska approached him, and Buzz fumbled clumsily at his side for a gun. Alaska smirked and pushed Sandy towards the table before jumping, lunging forwards and landing on Buzz; the chair tipped backwards, and the two fell to the floor, but Alaska managed to fling the gun away before he could use it.

"CROTCH SHOT!" She yelled, and drove her right knee into his groin. Buzz screamed in pain, and Alaska laughed coldly. She left him to wallow and quickly crawled towards the table. Sandy was hiding underneath for protection, sheltering Eevee from the attacks, but she had grabbed both of their bags and passed over Alaska's battered black backpack.

"What the hell is going on?" She wailed, shaking slightly as she stared out at the battle, and Alaska turned and watched; Looker had gotten hold of a machine gun and was firing sniper-like at the henchmen, taking them out one at a time while he protected Alistair at the computer; meanwhile, Gallade had his arms raised and his eyes flashed pink, but two of the Houndoom were jumping at him, engulfing him in Dark attacks and holding him back from helping.

"Alistair is doing something with the computer," Alaska explained as she rummaged through her bag for her PokeBalls, feeling relaxed now that it was back in her possession. "I am not sure what though, but I guess he will try to get us – wait a second," Alaska paused, her hands freezing around the brownies as a thought occurred to her.

"What, what is it?" Sandy cried, eyes widening in fear.

"There were only two Houndoom attacking Gallade," Alaska replied quietly, fear descending through her body. She quickly turned around but did not have to look far to find the missing Pokemon; a great big Houndoom stood right in front of her, smoke rising from its nostrils. It was standing so closely Alaska could count individual furs on its face, and could feel the heat rising in its throat…

"HOOOOOOOO-DOOOOOOOOM!" The Dark Pokemon roared, and Alaska barely had time to pull out the brownie tray before flames were unleashed. The rock hard desert deflected most of the fire, but Alaska winced as her fingers were singed, and the heat was burning her skin as the Flamethrower was forced towards the table. By the time the attack stopped the table was in flames, and Alaska frantically leapt out from under it and reached desperately inside her bag for a PokeBall. However, Sandy suddenly yelled, a sound so shrill and painful that Alaska's heart nearly skipped a beat; she turned and found Houndoom had targeted her friend as she escaped the burning furniture. Sandy was pinned beneath the creature and could only scream as razor sharp fangs slashed at her arms, while Eevee lay in a heap beside her.

"GET OFF HER!" Alaska yelled, and without thought she sprinted forwards, leaving her back behind and raising the tray high above her head. Houndoom turned at her cry, but was not expecting the attack; Alaska beat it across the head with the tray, and the Dark type whimpered as she wildly struck it with the brownies. With a furious glare, the Houndoom turned and sprinted away, heading off to find easier targets.

"Are you alright?" Alaska breathlessly asked Sandy, who still lay cowering on the ground, her eyes painfully wide. Her dress was splattered with blood, the lilac fabric turning a rich purple as red seeped through, and Alaska bent down to look.

"That wasn't a very nice way to treat a Pokemon, was it?" A deep voice growled. Alaska froze half bent over her friend, the unfamiliar voice making her spine shiver. She turned cautiously around, but only saw the stranger's black clothes before something large appeared in her face; suddenly, unimaginable pain spread throughout her head, and Alaska tried to scream as she toppled over backwards. Stars appeared in her eyes, and the entire room split in two and swayed around her. She heard Sandy scream and an angry yell, but Alaska could only focus on her face as the taste of blood appeared in her mouth; slowly, she raised her hands and felt the lower part of her jaw, but winced at her own touch. She realised fearfully that someone had just kicked her in the face, and they had managed to shatter her jaw in the process.

"Someone should have done that to you a long time ago," the loud, cruel voice hissed, and Alaska cried out as something suddenly pressed down on her stomach, forcing the air out of her body. A face appeared above her, and it was one of the ugliest things Alaska had ever seen; it was covered in huge, hideous burns, making the man bald and turning his skin red. Only one eye appeared to be open, and his mouth looked more like an unhealed wound than lips. It was the thing of nightmares, and Alaska knew that this was her attacker, one of Buzz's henchmen sent to kill her.

"You have given my boss a lot of grief," he growled, his entire body now pressing down on Alaska's ribs, and he raised a hand. "Now you need to be stopped." His fist came down so quickly it was a blur; Alaska could only whimper as her head shuddered, feeling as if a brick had just fallen on her nose. Blood spurted out of both nostrils, but before it could even register her pain the man grabbed her by the collar and heaved her up before throwing her against the wall. Alaska cried out and slumped to the floor, her entire body shaking now, blood pouring down her face and neck while her vision turned completely fuzzy, the entire room swaying before her; Alaska could see five Sandy's a few metres away, her friend staining the floor red as she crawled towards her bag.

"I have lost count of the amount of people I have killed," the hideous man boomed, though his voice now sounded as though he was at the bottom of a well. Alaska turned towards him, unable to hold back groans of pain, and a wide grin distorted even further by her blurred vision swam into view. "You are not the first women I have killed, you are not the youngest and the sad thing for you is that killing you will mean nothing to me. This is the dying thought I leave all my victims with; no matter what you achieve in life, no matter what you did do, planned to do or could have done, eventually, everyone dies; yours is perhaps sooner than you expected."

Alaska felt nothing except pain as the tall man grabbed her by the head, crushing her ears and tearing hairs out as he lifted her into the air. She could not look at him even if she wanted to, her vision had blurred so much that all she could see were colours, a weight pressing down against her brain. Darkness was already closing in, and as the scared man began to squeeze her head, disjointed thoughts flew across Alaska's ailing mind; she would never see Paige, Frances, Nadia or Shelley ever again, she would never see her family, she would never laugh with Sandy; she would never learn why Buzz or Gideon were terrorizing Kanto, she would never learn the mysteries of the reality show, she would never have to face the robots in open battle…

_Maybe that is a good thing…_

The pressure on her head suddenly lifted, and Alaska cried out as she fell suddenly to the ground, landing painfully on her leg before collapsing onto her back. Her scarred assailant was no longer there; instead a green and white creature stood shining next to her, a towering saviour glowing so brightly it hurt her eyes.

"Gah-lah-da," Alaska groaned through the blood filling her mouth. Gallade stared down at her, and his wide, empty eyes suddenly seemed so clear, so solid in her distorted vision. The two gazed at each other for a moment, and Alaska got the feeling again of being judged, analyzed, examined by the Psychic type; then, a blue light lit up the room, forcing Alaska to blink, and when she opened her eyes Gallade was gone, replaced by something huge and grey, a massive, writhing statue. Alaska shut her eyes as the beast roared, but she did not have the strength to open them again. As distant cries of her name fading away to nothing, Alaska resigned herself to accept the darkness, knowing full well what Gallade would have seen had he entered her mind, knowing that she should feel guilty for giving up so easily, for accepting this fate so readily. _But really, _Alaska thought, her pain disappearing, the pressure on her brain lifting, _what is the point in fighting this any longer… I am never going to finish this puzzle…_


	88. Chapter 65: Saving Private Acevedo

Another long delay, but I have plans to aim for a once a fortnight update schedule which hopefully will come to fruition. Last chapter of this arc next.

**Chapter Sixty Five: Saving Private Acevedo **

It was not a good day to be Mr Samson Silph the Sixth.

Most days, it was great to be him; Mr Silph was worth around five hundred billion dollars, and went to sleep every night in a rooftop apartment, where his bedroom was roughly the same size as most peoples houses. He was always confident that the next day would be just as great as the one before, and he had little reason to worry that anything would go wrong.

But today, Mr Silph was worried. He stood on the ground floor of the building that would be his family's legacy, a neat, tidy and colourful reception area that usually was bustling with life and excitement. Now though, only he, his assistant Leanne and several security guards filled the empty floor; everyone else had been evacuated to avoid Zapdos as it tore the Silph Co. headquarters apart.

"There are news teams at both ends of the road and in helicopters," Leanne chirped, gazing rapidly between the abandoned reception computers and her Silph-brand phone and tablet. Mr Silph turned and watched fearfully as electricity turned the outside yellow and more glass fell. This was the worst thing to happen to the company since the previous headquarters had been destroyed five years earlier, and Mr Silph was not going to let the same thing happen again; already he could feel himself slipping back into the immature, inexperienced boy who had to be saved by children, and he tried to gain control of himself.

"We need to get in contact with all the major trainers; Sabrina, Alexis, Misty and Surge are closest, they should be able to help us, and I want the bloody Champion here NOW!" Samson boomed to his staff. "We lost our last building because of that damn overcharged bird, and I will not lose this one over the same Pokemon!"

"Right away sir!" Leanne replied, and she began dialling four numbers at once.

"Do you want to go down into the basement sir?" A tall, brooding security guard boomed, but Silph shook his head.

"No, I need to see this out!" He replied sharply. "I am CEO, I run the biggest company in the world, and I will not be seen hiding away and leaving everyone else to sort out this problem!" He felt that saying that made him seem cool and smart, and Samson imagined that the passive looks on his staff's faces were ones of admiration at his calm and controlled demeanour.

"Sir, Zapdos appears to be moving away from the building," a shorter guard said, and Silph frantically rushed around the desk to watch; a screen showed the Legendary Pokemon flying backwards away from the building, no longer attacking.

"It looks likes it's leaving; maybe it defeated those Pokemon it was fighting and has gotten bored?" The security guard suggested, but Mr Silph did not care for the reason; the chaos was over, the beast was leaving! He breathed a sigh of relief and looked at his watch; this chaos would have started and finished just within an hour, and now they could put the mess behind them and move on.

"Let's go outside and take a look at the damage, then we can talk to the press," Mr Silph said eagerly, and he briskly marched towards the glass doors. There was already one reporter rushing towards the building now that all appeared safe, and Mr Silph put his most serious face on whilst smiling childishly on the inside; Zapdos was no longer a threat, everything would be fine now…

Suddenly, Mr Silph heard a distant rumbling noise, and he paused as the floor beneath his feet shook. He turned and looked curiously at his staff, wondering if he had just imagined it, but they seemed to have not noticed so Samson kept on walking, certain that his day couldn't get any worse.

That was when the Onix appeared beneath his feet.

Mr Silph emitted a high pitched scream as the tiled floor exploded, and a large, grey, boulder-shaped head burst into his building. Leanne squealed, dust filled the air, and Mr Silph leapt fearfully onto a nearby sofa as a huge section of his ground floor sunk into a hole. He stared frightfully at the writhing Pokemon that now took up half his lobby, briefly seeing several figures clinging onto the creatures head, but then the Onix roared so loudly Samson nearly wet himself. Mr Silph looked between the Pokemon, the broken glass both outside and the cracked, irreparable floor, and he fainted into a heap on the sofa, unable to take any more drama.

_Two minutes earlier… _

Fear; that was all that went through Sandy's mind as she scrambled across the floor. Fear for herself, fear for her Pokemon, but ultimately fear for Alaska, who she had just witnessed getting attacked by a man twice her size, and had been helpless to do anything.

_Please be alright, please be alright, please be alright,_Sandy thought as she grabbed her friends discarded bag, shoving the tray of brownies inside, picking up Eevee and getting to her feet. She nearly fell back over, her own blood loss from her torn up arms making her dizzy, but Sandy was able to stumble towards her friend, who now lay in a heap against the wall. She could not be sure if Alaska was still alive, but as the ceiling was now collapsing on top of them, Sandy knew there was no time to waste.

"Weepinbell, hold her with Vine Whip, and Butterfree you hold onto Weepinbell!" She cried hoarsely at her team, who had barely been out thirty seconds but were already in the middle of a war. Butterfree and Weepinbell nodded at their orders, and Sandy left them to rescue her friend, casting Alaska one last look before turning towards the chaos that surrounded her, clutching the unconscious Eevee tightly against her heaving chest.

Buzz's soldiers lay all around the rapidly shrinking room, many lying in a pool of their own blood, bullet wounds all across their chests. Only a few were still standing, and they were now fighting hand-to-hand with Looker, their guns cast aside as knives and fists ended the battle. Sandy could see Mitchell's father scrambling across the room, the computer he had thrown himself at now a smoking mess, and the scientist was cautiously watching Onix's tail; the Rock Snake was not happy with his enclosed environment, and Sandy watched in horror as Onix continued to ram his head spike into the ceiling, strong enough that it was tearing massive holes in the concrete and showering them all.

_I need you to get us out, but could you kindly not kill us in the process? _Sandy thought, knowing she needed to train Onix more, though her current top priority was making sure they escaped. She looked around to make sure there were no surprises; the scarred man was slumped against the wall, while Gallade was fending off the last of the Houndoom. Now was as good of a chance as any to leave, Sandy thought, before any reinforcements arrived, such as the nightmare army waiting in the next room…

"LOOKER, WE NEED TO GO!" She screamed, and the spy briefly looked at her and nodded; then, fast as lightning, he slammed his palm into the nose of one of his assailants before punching him in the throat, grabbing the man's knife and stabbing a second henchman with it. Sandy watched the two men fall, but Looker had already moved, grabbing hold of the third and smashing him into the wall and giving him a solid few kicks before leaving him to fall. The spy jumped across his victims, ran towards Mr Melton and grabbed hold of the scientist before rushing him past Onix's flailing tail.

"I suppose this is our way out of here?" Looker asked normally, as if he had not just beaten up three men.

"Well yes, I was hoping Onix would be able to protect us and get us through the robots if they attacked, but he seems a bit… violent?" Sandy said meekly.

"No… need," Mr Melton suddenly said in a hoarse voice, and Sandy was shocked to see how pale he was. "I disabled the security systems… we should be able to get into the pipes… and get… out…." He stopped speaking and began to cough violently into his hand, and when it came away it was red. Sandy was stunned by the sight of blood, but Looker seemed unfazed and placed Alistair at the end of Onix's tail. At the weight of a person Onix stopped writhing and looked curiously down, his massive eyes meeting Sandy's, and she quickly snapped out of her shock; both Alistair and Alaska could be saved, as long as they got out.

"Onix, we need you to drag us all through the ceiling and keep going until we tell you to stop… is that alright?" She asked, trying to sound confident but her voice shook. Onix watched her unblinkingly for a moment, but then he nodded with his great big head, and Sandy nearly squealed in a brief moment of delight.

"Gallade, we're going!" Looker yelled, and his Psychic type nodded, casually slamming his large green arms into Houndoom and quickly appearing beside them. Sandy climbed onto her Pokemon, wrapping one arm around the thin part of his tail while holding tightly onto Eevee with the other. Butterfree fluttered over, clutching Weepinbell in her hands, and the … Pokemon had her brown vine wrapped around Alaska. Sandy looked at her friend and felt sick; Alaska was nearly unrecognisable, her jaw swollen and her face smeared with blood.

_Please be alright… you have to be, you can't die now… please be safe! _Sandy thought sadly. However, her thoughts left her as she felt pressure on her back, as if something was forcing her up against Onix; she looked around and saw Gallade climbing onto the Rock Snake, his eyes glowing pink, and Sandy realised they were being psychically bound together.

"We need to go Sandy – NOW!" Looker yelled, and Sandy understood why; the door had been blown off its hinges, and now all manner of creatures were coming in; a massive metal Kingler, a pair of Growlithe bound in realistic fur, flapping Zubat that shone as they moved; the army had finally been brought into the fight.

"GO ONIX, GO!" Sandy yelled.

"ONNNNNNN!" Onix roared, and he stretched up to full height, his head entering the hole he had made, and Sandy yelped as her stomach gave an almighty jolt, and she was suddenly heaved rapidly into darkness.

All sounds of battle and gunfire disappeared, replaced by a heavy silence that pressed down on Sandy as much as Gallade's Psychic did. Despite her protection, Sandy still clung as tightly as possible to Onix, keeping her body low as they were pulled through piping. She had no idea where they were going or how Onix was able to move his large body so smoothly, but she ignored the sickly sensation in her stomach and the jolt she got when Onix turned and looked ahead to their escape.

_Get us out; I don't care how, just get us out of here and away from those people, just let me take Alaska to a doctor, just let me save her… _Sandy thought, her eyes shut tight against the darkness. Something soft brushed against her hand and Sandy nearly jumped, fearful of the robots that had begun to attack. Slowly, she half opened her eyes, squinting through blackness to see what was touching her; Butterfree's outline was clear even in the dark, the silver of her wings still managing to shine, and Sandy smiled tearfully and lightly grabbed hold of the Pokemon's outstretched hand, it only hitting her now how close they had come to nearly being separated forever…

Onix suddenly slowed, and metallic clangs and grunts filled the silence; Sandy looked cautiously upwards, feeling Butterfree's hand tighten around her fingers, and fear cascaded through her mind as Onix slid backwards; was the path ahead blocked, would they need to go back?

But then, with a tremendous roar, Onix shot forwards, and Sandy could not help but scream as light exploded into her view, and her stomach lurched so violently she thought she'd be sick; Onix seemed to jump out of the pipes, lunging upwards like some graceful ballerina, all while what seemed to be rocks bombarded his passengers, only Gallade and Psychic saving them.

The sudden light and Onix's speed made for a disorientating combination, but as the Rock Snake came to a stop, Sandy began to take stock of their surroundings. They were still inside but now in a cavernous room, roughly twice the size of her childhood home. It was very white, with colour interjected in the form of rugs, sofas, tables and plants. Her eyes were attracted towards the largest thing in the room that wasn't her Pokemon, a huge waterfall built into one of the walls, cool water rapidly tinkling down a metallic surface into a large pool, the Silph Co. logo emblazoned behind the stream.

"We need to keep moving, we can't stay here," Looker yelled.

"Where are we meant to go though?" Sandy cried. "We won't be able to move fast on foot, and Onix can't exactly hide behind buildings – though there are a lot of skyscrapers in Saffron, aren't there?"

"Gallade knows where we need to go, he can relay the directions, we just have to go!" Looker yelled back. The angry spy was beginning to annoy Sandy, but she gave Onix a gentle kick all the same; the Rock type roared and slid forwards out of the building. Glass rained down on them as they crashed through the shattered sliding doors, and then sunlight hit Sandy's face for the first time all day; the day was bright and hot, and she had to shield her eyes as Onix swerved to the right and rocketed down a crowded street. With her hands blocking the light, Sandy was able to make out some of the street; huge shards of glass, some as tall as her, lay across the street and footpath, many having crushed cars and flattened trees and plant boxes. Sandy could see terrified faces watching them from inside cafes and shops, and she felt unsettled as her attention turned eighty floors upwards, finding the smoking hole that marked where she and Alaska had been an hour before.

_Did Zapdos cause all this damage just to save us? _She asked herself as Onix turned down an alleyway. _What if people had been hurt, or killed, just so we could be saved? And Zapdos didn't even get us out unharmed_, Sandy thought as she stared down at Alaska, her neck and the collar of her shirt now stained with blood.

"Are we being followed?" She called back to Looker, looking around as Onix entered a smaller street, his large body sending people scattering and stopping a bus in its path.

"Doesn't appear to be, but I doubt they will send anything out, not with our flying guardian watching over us," Looker said, and Sandy looked up; the yellow and black Legendary that had shattered Silph's windows was now circling above them, occasionally sounding her cry. Sandy knew she should be grateful to Zapdos, as this was now the second time the Electric type had saved them, but her experiences inside the building had made her a tad bitter, and she wanted to know why she had known to rescue them in the first place.

"A robotic army, a bloody robot army… if I had suspected anything like that for a second, I would have come here with my own damn army," Looker grumbled audibly. Sandy was trying to stay focussed on the path ahead, not wanting to think back to the horrors they had just witness, not wanting to dwell on Alaska's limp body nor the blood seeping from her arms, but she knew that if her friend was awake then she would be demanding answers, and Sandy had to keep up with their bargain.

"Why were you there anyway? He… Buzz, he said something about forcing his enemies to come to him; why couldn't you have found this all out without coming here?" She called back.

"Silph Co. is one of the biggest companies in our world, but that didn't stop Team Rocket destroying them five years back," Looker explained. "I didn't work on that case, but I heard that Silph was nearly killed and every floor was damaged. As a result, when Mr Silph had his headquarters rebuilt, he installed a number of advanced computer security protocols that prevents anyone from hacking into his system."

"The only reason I could hack the system back there," Alistair interjected between coughs, "is because those computers are archaic compared to what Silph has us working with normally, and the security was not as modern."

"Silph had the basements put in as a precaution, but I suspect he has forgotten about updating them as there have been no threats to his livelihood for years," Looker added. "But regardless of that oversight, the main software that Buzz uses as part of his front is completely protected from outside attacks, so I had to come here in order to try and find out what he was doing. Zapdos attacked before I could get further than the security cameras, but I guess that little debacle back there had its benefits; I now know how he plans on attacking, and his little joke about the league partially proves the rumours."

"Rumours, what rumours?" Sandy asked, vague memories from her discussions with Alaska stirring in the back of her head, but her loss of blood was making her woozy and she could not place a finger on anything.

"Several months ago, the International Police received a tip off a few days after the reality show was announced that the show was a cover for something far more dangerous. We investigated and used old security footage and face recognition software to identify Bolton as being an ex-Team Rocket member, one of the last that our champion ever defeated in 2008. We raised our suspicions with the Indigo League superiors and several key people who make up the backbone of Kanto, but most of them have refused to accept anything is wrong, not until there is legitimate evidence of Red being under threat."

Sandy did not inquire any further, silent dwelling on what Looker had said. Why was the League ignoring the information before them, why was no one coming to help them fight Buzz and Gideon, and how many other people had they met on their journey, from gym leaders to Bill, known this information and not bothered to warn or help them? Sandy knew Alaska would be enraged once she knew about this, and the blonde knew she had a right to be annoyed that they were being left on their own like this, but she could only feel saddened by the news; even if some of them had not been very nice, it had been an incredible experience meeting all the gym leaders and the influential trainers, scientists and celebrities that Sandy had watched on TV or read about as a child, and she had hoped to hold onto those memories. But how could she be happy about meeting Steven Stone or encountering all those gym leaders, when surely they all knew the threats she and Alaska faced and none had properly told her what to expect?

"We're here," Looker said, and Sandy looked around as Onix came to a sudden halt. They had left the skyscrapers behind, and were now surrounded by smaller buildings, the tallest being about four storeys. They were at the edge of the city, with tall trees behind the nearest buildings leading to forests and the surrounding routes. Sandy saw one building she recognized from TV as being the terminus for the Magnet Train, but it was further down the road from them so she presumed they were not going there. However, Sandy saw no other buildings of note; the only other one that stood out was a dull single storey wooden building, most of its tiled roof missing, surrounded by a courtyard of cracked concrete slabs.

"Are we going _there_?" Sandy asked incredulously as she slid down Onix's tail. "That place just looks… serial killer-y."

"It's different on the inside," Looker replied. "Now withdraw Onix and let's get moving. Gallade can carry Alaska, let's just go before anyone sees us." Sandy nodded and grabbed the Great Ball from her pocket. Onix turned his massive head, which could barely fit in the alleyway they were in, and Sandy froze, arm half raised, as the Rock type stared down at her. She thought back to the fearsome beast she had caught in Mt Moon all those weeks ago, the massive creature that had destroyed a bar within seconds, but right now Sandy could not see rage; Onix looked at her with an expression that has hard to read in a face that carved from stone, but his wide, staring eyes looked as mournful, concerned and depressed as Sandy felt, and the blonde stifled a soft gasp of realisation.

"We'll be alright, don't worry about us," she whispered, and Onix gave a short, reluctant nod, and Sandy's mind raced as he disappeared inside his Great Ball. She had never thought Onix cared for her, but it was clear the Rock Snake was concerned about leaving his trainer unprotected, and now Sandy was not sure what to think.

"We need to go, now!" Looker hissed, and Sandy snapped out of her thoughts and nodded. She set off across the road, Butterfree flying beside her still holding Weepinbell. Sandy could feel Eevee stirring in her arms, and she hoped the furry little Pokemon was alright, but her attention was wavering between Onix's brief show of caring to the fate of her friend. Looker and Gallade ran on her other side, both Alaska and Mr Melton floating alongside, and Sandy felt a pang of guilt, having put little thought into the scientist's clearly deteriorating health; he had saved them, creating that passage for Onix…

"Head straight through the doors," Looker called, and Sandy turned back around; they had left the smooth road behind and had stepped through a dilapidated fence into the broken up courtyard. Sandy ran cautiously over cracked paving slabs, and her eyes cast wearingly over a dead tree covered in bird crap to piles of rubbish that seemed blown in from the street. The building looked worse up close, with missing window panes, mould and mildew in the wood, and the half open door seemed to barely be standing up. A faded sign above the door read 'Saffron Fighting Dojo', and Sandy could not help but wonder why they had come here.

"Are you sure this is –"

"Yes!" Looker snapped, and Sandy obediently nodded, trying to be optimistic that Alaska would find proper medical treatment inside a building that screamed 'crack house'. She had just stepped inside, thinking that if that was the case then at least there'd be hypodermic needles around, when a new voice sounded around her.

"Oh lord, what's happen to the bitch this time?" The voice scoffed, and Sandy's whole world changed. Her view of a long, dark and empty room began to change, and all Sandy could see was a harsh purple light that seemed to bore into her brain. She nearly collapsed, feeling Eevee squirming in her arms, her vision now so neon she thought she was on drugs, and then suddenly things became clear.

Sandy, Looker and their Pokemon were now standing in what seemed to be the reception area for a futuristic space ship. The mouldy wooden floor and hole-strewn walls had been replaced with tiles that seemed to be moving slowly between purple and blue as Sandy stared at them, creating a confusing cube of a room where the corners all seemed to blend into one another. People sat in desks that blended into the walls, a bizarre group of strangers that had not been there when Sandy had entered; it would have been hard to miss their rich maroon uniforms or their large black wristbands. More people were rushing towards them, emerging from what Sandy presumed was a back wall where a large green light on the floor seemed to be letting off sparks, but Looker seemed to be expecting this strange wine-coloured army.

"Where the hell are we?" Sandy cried, holding Eevee tightly. The voice began to laugh, and Sandy suddenly realised she knew who it belonged to.

"Come on now, I thought you were the smart one," Clyde sneered. "Haven't you done your local area history yet? I guess dropping out of school to train a Bug to fight criminals is a _much_ better life choice than getting an education..."

"This is the Saffron City Gym," Looker interrupted as Gallade lowered their charges towards the approaching staff. "It specializes in Psychic types, and they created this hidden gym inside their rival's old base after their old one got destroyed –"

"Let me guess, five years ago?" Sandy asked, and Looker smirked.

"The doors have shut behind us, but even if Buzz got inside he would never be able to find us, we are completely hidden by their unique security methods. It is safer than taking them to a hospital at any rate," he finished before turning to the gym staff; their wrist bands glowed pink, and Alaska and Alistair were both floating between them.

"We will take the male to our medical wing," one of them explained. "Sabrina wants to treat the girl personally, if you approve."

"Of course," Looker said, and the staff walked back towards the green light, their patients moving with them. Sandy made to follow after, but Looker grabbed her shoulder. "No, you can't go with her – Sabrina will want to see her alone."

"What?! I have to go with her, I can't leave her alone!" Sandy cried, wheeling around to face the spy. "What if something happens to her?"

"She will be fine, Sabrina's staff is perfectly capable of treating both of them, I have heard great things –"

"I don't care, Alaska is my friend and I need to be there with her! What if she is dying Looker, I can't let her die alone!" Sandy yelled; she could tell she was on the verge of tears but did not care, too frustrated with her situation to give a damn about her emotions. She expected Looker to say something in response, but he merely sighed and moved towards one of the desks, a stool suddenly appearing behind him.

"I am getting too old for this," he groaned and collapsed into his seat. Sandy couldn't bear to look at him any more, and instead turned to see where Alaska had gone. However, she and the staff had disappeared, the green square suddenly still and dim. Anxious, hurt and ultimately confused, Sandy wheeled around, ignoring Gallade's intruding stare, and focussed on her Pokemon, trying to rein her thoughts in. Butterfree and Weepinbell were watching her worryingly, and after a few moments of watching them, Sandy sighed and put everything else aside. For a little while she had thought her Pokemon were lost to her, but now she, Butterfree, Onix, Weepinbell and Pichu were all back together; all the questions and lies could wait for later, they had escaped with their lives and Sandy couldn't be more thankful.

"Vee… Eevee Vee," a timid voice muttered, and Sandy looked down at the brown ball stirring in her arms, big black eyes gazing fearfully up at her.

"Ssssh, it's alright, we're safe, we're all safe now, that's what matters,"Sandy whispered, cradling Eevee in her arms, and as she smiled down at the Normal type, part of her actually believed it was the truth.


	89. Chapter 66: Teenage Bitch

**Chapter Sixty Six: Teenage Bitch **

_Be patient Alaska__… __be brave… I am still coming for you… I will find you some day soon… my warning still stands… protect yourself, protect those around you… I cannot promise what will happen if you do not heed my advice…_

_Who are you… what do you want of me…_

_I will find you soon… my strength has weakened… the pain of my escape is getting to me… my sister is healing me, I will find you soon… be patient Alaska... be brave… my warning still stands…_

_Who are you, why can't you just tell me… answer me: why won't anyone just answer my questions… WHO ARE YOU?!_

"I believe she is awake."

Alaska's eyes burst open, and all she could see was blue. She could feel a dull pain throughout her body, and she had a feeling as though she had woken from a dream, but the question she had just asked disappeared from the back of her mind and a new one leapt to the front: _Am I dead? _

"I need towels for the patient, she appears to be sweating," someone said calmly and quietly a few feet away, and Alaska instantly snapped her head towards them. The simple movement though sent streams of pain coursing through her body, namely the lower part of her face, and Alaska groaned softly and collapsed back onto a thin mattress.

"That was not very intelligent of you," the cool voice said. Alaska had her eyes shut to the pain and could not see who the speaker was, though she could tell the voice belonged to a woman and a stranger. Suddenly, something cool and soft began to lightly dab her skin, and Alaska felt waves of relief wash over her: she had not realised how hot she was, and the simple touch of a wet towel against her body made a world of difference.

As the pain faded, Alaska opened her eyes again, looking to her left for her carer. Calling her a woman seemed erroneous, as the person beside her looked only a few years older, but when the stranger met Alaska's gaze, there was something in her eyes that made her seemed older. Blue hair framed her youthful but wise face, and when Alaska glanced down at her bedside guest and saw she was wearing a tight, wine-purple leather shirt and long black trousers.

"Either angels dress a lot more scandalous than I imagined, or I take it I am not dead?" Alaska groaned, and the girl smirked for a brief moment.

"Why would you have died? Do you know many people who have been killed by having their jaw broken?" Alaska realised that this mysterious woman had a point, and gave a simple shrug that sent new shockwaves through her body. "I am sure you would have liked to have died though," the girl continued, raising her arms above Alaska's chest and revealing two large, glowing metallic bracelets on her wrists. "In fact, I can tell you are disappointed you are still alive and that you will have to carry on living through pain and uncertainty." The girl had a knowing look on her face, and Alaska frowned, her pain numbing as doubt flooded her mind.

"Would you mind telling me who you are and where the hell I am before you continuing judging me?" She asked viciously, but the girl seemed unfazed by her sudden hostility.

"My name is Sabrina, and you are currently in my private offices at my gym. One of my assistants was here but I sent her away when you awoke so we may speak privately." Alaska stared at the strange girl in shock for a few moments as her words registered, and then she began to laugh. It hurt; her chest and neck and jaw and everything feeling as though knives were being wedged into her skin, but Alaska just let herself laugh. "Would you mind telling me what is so amusing?" Sabrina asked calmly.

"I'm in a gym!" Alaska snorted in between giggles. "Yesterday I was out on Route 12, expecting to head down to Fuchsia and battle Janine, but here I am… in Saffron… in your gym… and I'm alive!" And Alaska collapsed back into her laughter, ignoring the slightly judgemental look Sabrina was giving her, unable to control her own deranged amusement: what a strange, messed up day this had been, to have begun in the offices of her enemy and end up in the offices of a gym leader. Alaska continued to laugh for several minutes before the humour began to die and reality began to creep its way back in. Looking for a distraction, Alaska turned her attention to the room she had awoken in: the walls, ceiling and floor swirled between purples and blues, making her feel as though she was inside a lava lamp.

"What's with all the lights? It looks like someone's throwing a rave and we're the only people that turned up."

"I have never been to a rave before so I cannot compare, but I understand certain people find joy in them," Sabrina said coolly, her owns eyes flickering around her room as if seeing it for the first time. "They are not lights; it is the Psychic energy that flows through this building. It is part of our defence system so that no one can find us, and the energy is stimulating for the Pokemon that my staff and I train."

"I guess that's fair enough: Misty has a pool, Alexis has a garden, so it makes sense you'd have… psychic energy walls?"

"It is a tad more complicated than that, but I shan't burden your mind with the specifics when you already have so much to tend with," Sabrina said, and despite it sounding like a compliment Alaska had a feeling it was meant to be an insult. She gazed at the gym leader as Sabrina waved her bracelets over Alaska's body, and it dawned on Alaska that she could not read this newest leader's personality. With the other four she had faced, it had been easy to work out their moods and intentions, but Sabrina was a blank canvas, showing neither kindness nor hatred towards her, and that was just as unsettling as everything else Alaska had faced today.

"How is the pain?" Sabrina asked, raising her arms and tapping away at the bracelets.

"On a scale of one to ten, I'd say it's about a hundred," Alaska replied.

"That's not on a scale of one to ten," Sabrina replied, and Alaska wasn't sure if she was meant to laugh. "My Pokemon and I have managed to reset your damaged bones and stop your internal bleeding, and with medication you should be fully recovered – physically, at least – within a few days."

"Splendid," Alaska said with a fake smile, and she half heartedly raised her arms in the air in celebration. As Sabrina cast another perplexing look, a sudden thought struck Alaska. "Where is everyone else? Sandy, Looker, my Pokemon, where are they, are they all fine?"

"Yes, in a sense," Sabrina replied. "Alexandra has received stitching for the bite marks she sustained, and Alistair is currently receiving treatment for the gunshot wound to his back. The former should heal fine but I cannot offer anything but pointlessly hopeful guesswork about the latter. The spy is unharmed and all Pokemon escaped without injury either_. _I have your bag here if you would like that for comfort." For a brief second, Alaska went to say yes, desperate to see her Pokemon and see that they were all fine. However, that temptation only lasted a moment, and then Alaska shook her head, a crushing weight pressing down on her body.

"No thank you, I am alright for the moment – I should probably rest more before I see them."

"Of course, you will need a while to accept your submission to death," Sabrina said. It took several moments for that comment to register, but when Alaska turned back to face her the gym leader was sitting calmly watching her, her eyes almost eager.

"What do you mean _my submission to death_?" Alaska asked incredulously. "What the hell are you on about?" Her tone got sharper and louder with every word, but Sabrina just calmly stared at Alaska as if examining an animal inside a zoo.

"I spoke to Gallade shortly after you arrived here. He passed on your thoughts from the last few minutes inside Silph Co.," she replied calmly, and Alaska had a brief image of Gallade watching her before she had faded to black. "He told me about how you were willing to embrace death, how you were willing to die so you could avoid facing your foes in open combat. Do not tell me I am lying or that I am incorrect: I find lies only delay the unavoidable, and by being able to psychically converse with others I am able to always see the truth. Gallade knew and now I know exactly what you were thinking as the man who goes by Scar tried to crush your head in." Alaska stared at Sabrina in shock, rage brewing beneath the surface as the gym leader stared calmly back: Alaska wanted to say Sabrina was wrong, wanted to yell at her, to argue with her, to tell her none of it was true. But the more Sabrina watched her, the more the willingness to argue disappeared, and eventually Alaska fell back onto the mattress defeated. She shut her eyes to avoid Sabrina's stare, but that only dredged up those last moments from Silph Co.; the Houndoom attacking her, the hideous man beating her, Buzz laughing, the robots, the endless rows of robots, the robots she had never defeated…

"Your right… I was ready to give up then… I just can't see the point in fighting them anymore. How am I supposed to defeat a massive army of robots when I have never even been able to defeat one of them on my own before?" She felt childish for saying the words aloud, but Alaska could not keep them bottled up any longer: seeing the army, seeing how easily Buzz had captured her and Sandy, how close she had come to dying, how close her Pokemon had come to failure…

"I know I cannot be free of Buzz, that he and Gideon and whoever else are going to follow me until either I defeat them or I die, but I know I cannot win against all the things they can throw at me so what is the point in carrying on with this cursed life?" For the first time since waking up, Alaska thought of the eerie voice that had haunted her dreams, the same one she had heard before, and remembered the warning she had received what seemed like a lifetime ago.

"If I stay alive, then that means Sandy, my family, and, most importantly, my Pokemon are going to be in danger, and what sort of person would I be if I continued to risk their lives like this? When that man – Scar, is that his name? How fitting… Anyway, when he had his hands on my head, when I felt him squeezing my skull, at that moment I wanted to be dead, I wanted to die so that Sandy and Paige and Frances and Shelley and everyone else can live. I can't escape this, no matter how hard I tried: it was so difficult for me to choose gyms over this madness, but I set myself a goal and I knew I had to defeat all the gyms before facing Gideon again, to strengthen myself and my team. Yet I make that decision and I end up learning more about this madness then I ever have before! No matter what I do, no matter how hard or fast I run from it, all these freaks and madmen and killers just follow after me, and I really don't know how long I can stay ahead of them before they finally catch me for good. If you can read minds, then why don't you read mine and find out all the things Buzz said he was going to do to me? I don't want to die… no one wants to die… but what else can I do? I can't carry on suffering, I can't carry on getting hurt and weakened every time I face them, I can't carry on putting everyone else's lives in danger. Death is the easy way out, and I wish that I had died back in that basement and that all of this was over."

Silence filled the room at the end of that. Alaska had only just met Sabrina, but she could not bring herself to look at the mysterious gym leader, unable to meet her eyes after pouring out her heart and soul like that. She could feel the inquisitive and empty stare of the Psychic trainer watching her, but Alaska merely stared at the glowing ceiling, watching the colours swirl and spin, letting her mind slip away, away from all of the pain.

"Death is nothing for you to be afraid of," Sabrina said finally what felt like many minutes later. "I commend you on your bravery of being willing to accept the inevitable like that: it is something I believe few people are capable of, especially not at our age, and I respect you for that. However, I also think you are a much weaker person that I had initially anticipated, and for that I am rather disappointed."

"What do you mean?" Alaska asked, raising an eyebrow and opening her eyes to face the blank faced gym leader again. Sabrina paused for a few moments, staring deeply at Alaska, so deeply in fact the trainer wondered if her mind was being read right at this moment and she could not tell.

"I have been able to read minds since a very young age," the gym leader said at last. "I cannot remember my life before this gift occurred. My father raised me alongside and an Abra and a Ralts, treated me as though I was a Pokemon and not his daughter, trained me to utilize the gifts of the Pokemon around so that one day I could replace him as the leader of this gym. It was unfortunate that he died earlier than we expected, but I had brought my powers to a place where I could be an effective trainer, and the Pokemon I was surrounded with proved admirable in supporting me. I believe I am a decent gym leader, but my true gifts lie in my powers.

"I can read everything that you are thinking Alaska, and more than even you have worked out. I see the voices inside your head, I see the cards you were shown in LavenderTown, I see the family you have not spoken to and I can see every one of your fears, and this is where your problems lie. You are afraid of the inevitable and the unpredictable, of the situations you have no control over. You have made it these far in your journey because of luck: the right moves against trainers with lesser capabilities than yourself, the right explosion at the right time, even the right object in the museum so you could escape a bomb blast without harm. Your fear lies in the fact you know you cannot rely on luck to defeat Buzz and Gideon, that you will not always have someone else to rescue you, and you are not sure if you are strong enough to win." Alaska sat in silence, letting Sabrina tell her these things, unable to bring herself to speak as the onslaught of truths was thrown at her.

"However Alaska, I can also see potential," Sabrina continued. "We humans are cursed with the ability to feel fear, but any fear can be overcome when you put your mind to it. In order for you to win yours, you need to cut yourself loose of the people that are trying to control you, and you must learn to be a normal trainer once again. I can see that you feel the need to solve mysteries and to solve the problems at hand, but you cannot be of any help to anyone until you have defeated Janine, Blaine, Leaf and myself."

"I have already beaten four gym leaders and nothing has changed: what do you expect defeating you is going to achieve?" Alaska asked icily.

"Because you need to learn to battle properly against an intelligent opponent if you hope to overcome your fears," Sabrina replied. "You have beaten Chloe Carmichael a number of times because she is not a wise child, and that has made you unfortunately confident. You have won many of your other battles by destroying the gym or by using tricks. You realized that today down in that basement, when you realized that you have never defeated one of Bolton's robots before. Your readiness to accept death comes because you believe it will be too difficult to defeat the army, but I can tell you that you can defeat them if you put your mind to it.

"You will stay in this building and recuperate, and once you healed enough, you will battle me for the Marsh Badge and you will fight your hardest and you will win on your own accord: no tricks, no destroying my facilities, just simple, honest battling. If you battle to a good enough standard, I will pass over the badge and you will be free to leave and do what you want afterwards. I cannot guarantee what will happen when you leave, but I am certain you will be able to face your enemies properly once again and continue your journey." Alaska sat there, taking all of it in; not just what Sabrina had said, but everything that had happened today, everything that had happened in the past week and month and ever since she had left Viridian City. Had blowing things up and outsmarting Chloe altered her more than she thought? She looked down at her fingers, realising for the first time they were wrapped in bandages; Houndoom had nearly killed her, it had only been the brownies that saved her, the brownies Freddie had baked for her…

"I don't need to sit here and listen to this crap," Alaska hissed, and Sabrina's eyes widened. "You have probably just read my blog and read between the lines: I bet you are just some big fucking phony, just another person who thinks they know me and thinks they can control me. Well guess what, you blue haired bitch, I'M MY OWN PERSON AND NO ONE CAN TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" She tried to sit up, pushing herself up and ignoring the pain that erupted in her chest at the simple movements, simply knowing she did not have to sit here and let herself be deconstructed like this, let her personality and actions be torn apart by a stranger. She had nearly gotten herself up when Sabrina lunged: Alaska didn't see the foot coming, but than it was in her stomach and she was back on the mattress, groaning.

"Crazy bitch!" She yelled, and Sabrina scoffed.

"You are not the first person to ever call me that," she replied, and there was a sudden intensity in her voice that had not been there before. "I have been an outcast my entire life, I have spent most of my days inside the walls of my gym training. I rarely leave here, and you know why? Because when people see me they have the exact same fears you do: they are afraid of the unknown, they are afraid of what they cannot see and what they cannot understand. Humans are fools because we try and fix things so that they become our way: when my father died, teachers took me away and tried to fix me because they thought I was broken, and you tried to train your Pokemon but now see death as the easiest solution. You are just like my teachers Alaska, uncertain, doubtful but ultimately afraid of what I can do, but the treatments they forced me to have never worked, and your death will do nothing but take away the greatest resource our region currently has in this war. Of course people want to use you, but I am not one of them Alaska Acevedo: I want to help you, and in order to do that, you have to defeat me on my terms, not yours, and you will not be leaving this building until you have defeated me."

"Excuse me?!" Alaska screamed, clutching her stomach as if it would burst. "You cannot keep me here like some sort of prisoner!"

"Well, actually, I can if I want to: no one leaves this building without my allowance," Sabrina replied coldly, suddenly tapping away at her bracelets. "I am not a fake Alaska, my powers are very real. I can read your mind and I can alter it if I want, just as I have been doing for this entire conversation." The gym leader towered powerfully over her, and her eyes did not leave Alaska as she pressed one more button on the bracelet.

"What are talking about?" Alaska screamed, putting hatred into every syllable. For a second, she was convinced she had spoken these words out loud, expected to hear them echo back inside the glowing room. But there was something strange about the way Sabrina was looking at her, and slowly, cautious of what she might discover, Alaska raised her hands gingerly to her face and felt her jaw. For the first time she realised how swollen it was, how much her face hurt where she touched, and Alaska knew there was no way she could be speaking.

_I… I haven't actually said anything, have I? _She thought, looking up at Sabrina.

"Not aloud you haven't," the gym leader replied, and Alaska's heart nearly skipped a beat. "Your jaw will healer faster here than it will in a proper hospital, but you are not near talking yet." Alaska sunk into her mattress, wishing all of a sudden that it would open up and swallow her whole so she would not have to face the gym leader, not have to face anyone ever again; _everything Sabrina said was true…_

There was a soft thud beside her, and Alaska turned and saw Sabrina had pushed her bag forwards, the battered black backpack illuminated by the bizarre lights of the gym. She lunged towards it, ignoring the pain, and pulled out her four PokeBalls, suddenly desperate to see her Pokemon again and to have something else to think about.

"I expect we will be battling within a week, if you're healing goes to plan," Sabrina said, and Alaska looked up and saw the gym leader was standing in a corner of the room, tapping away at her bracelets and barely looking at her. "Think about what I said Alaska; think about what you need to do to defeat me, and what you need to do to overcome your fear. Your death will not solve anything, so you need to find another way to fix this mess." Alaska stared at her, the four capsules cold to touch, and wondered when the two would face each other next.

_And what if I can't defeat you, what I can only win on my terms?_ She called out with her mind. Sabrina paused, a gloved finger hovering over a button, and when she stared up at Alaska the gym leader looked her age for the first time.

"Then you will never be able to defeat them, our Champion will die and Kanto shall fall alongside him," Sabrina whispered, her eyes wide, her voice cold and quiet. Her hovering finger came down on the bracelet, and with a flash she was gone, leaving Alaska alone with her PokeBalls, her thoughts, and the unsettling knowledge that she was not the only person in their conversation who was afraid.

**Apologies**** for a massive delay: uni got in the way and stuffed things up a bit. I sped through this chapter a bit so I could actually get it done before the end of the month/more assignments got in the way, so apologises if it is a bit choppy in places but hopefully Alaska's confession and Sabrina's motivations make sense. If not please let me know and I will try to clarify: next chapter will be a blog so that should smooth out Alaska's thoughts. **


	90. Blog 12: YODO

**Blog Twelve: #YODO **

Life is a bitch.

I think I have probably made a point of this in the past, but I just felt like clarifying that as we head into this blog entry; no matter how much we try, no matter how much we ponder and hope and dream, at the end of the day, life just plain old sucks.

You may be wondering what has led me to this profound realisation. Well, I am typing this very gingerly as my fingers are quite tender after being burnt, trying to stay focussed on the screen while my vision continues to slip in and out or focus on the account that my head was nearly crushed to a pulp, and to top that all off, my jaw is broken so I can't talk (To anyone who said good riddance, RUDE!)

I am sure you are now speculating about what cataclysmic event led to these injuries; to those who guessed the recent hoo-ha at the Silph Company Headquarters, then top points to you! It may seem rather tame compared to the usual calamities I find myself in, so you may be interested to know I had very little to do with the million dollar damage caused to the company's windows – I actually pride myself in the knowledge that I did not cause one single explosion while I was there, and I would pat myself on the back if my fingers didn't hurt like hell.

Now, I bet a lot of you are now thinking _Hang on a second, how did she end up in Saffron City? Wasn't she just on her way to Fuchsia? _Well, it is funny you should think that, cause Sandy and I were wondering that too when we woke up the morning after my last blog, and found that instead of being in our tent on that lovely, secluded, robot less coastal route, we were actually inside someone's office!

You see, my enemies are no longer content with me stumbling across their plans and blowing things up: oh no, now that have decided to kidnap me and try and eliminate me the old fashioned way. This is probably making my life sound like some cheesy spy thriller, and, unfortunately, it kind of is at the moment – I'm like the James Bond of Pokemon trainers, except without the abs or the sex, though I must say Sandy and Paige would make lovely Bond girls.

For an event that only lasted about two hours, if I tried to explain everything that happened in detail, I imagine it would fill about seven chapters of a book I'm sure some people wished had wrapped up years ago. So, instead, I'll summarize:

- An evil television producer-dickhead yelled at us, threatened to kill us

- Zapdos showed up and was all like "BZZZUUUUUHHHHAAAPPPP!" and blew up the office

- Sandy stabbed the dickhead in his dick (I am still so proud of her – I bet this is how parents feel when their children are getting married)

- We walked down some stairs (riveting, I know)

- I bumped into a familiar face with some revelations, then some assassins bumped into us

- A spy showed up and pushed us all down an elevator shaft – you know your screwed when that's how your allies treat you

- We tried to go to safety but walked into a room full of robots

- Evil Producer tried to kill us again, we tricked him, fought him, and I nearly died

- Sandy's Onix got us out, we ended up at our hidey hole

- The End!

Oh, my dear readers, how I wish it could be that simple – how I wish I could just say 'The End', close the book and move on. I wish that my story would end, I wish it had ended long ago, but this story is out of my control and I have no idea where the plot is heading. I can't lay down my weapons and walk away from this like I presumed back in Celadon, the story does not end there. If I want to end the story on my terms, if I want to leave this all behind, then I have to die, and that struck me for the first time.

This brings me back to the start; life sucks, and if I am being honest with you, my anonymous cyber readers, there was a brief moment during my Silph Co drama where I decided death might just be the answer. I have not really thought this way before, but when I found myself getting my head bashed against a wall, I realised how much easier death would be than living through this nightmare. In my mind at the time, I realised that death would mean never having to face my foes again, I would never be put in any more danger, I would never be in any more pain – if you had led friends into gunfights, nearly been blown up countless times and become the target for powerful villains, don't you think you would rather just die than carry on living that nightmare?

When I woke up in what I can only describe as a nerdy nineties ravers wet dream, I met someone new – for the sake of keeping things secret, lets just call her 'The Brain' (I had another B word in mind, but Sandy thought it was mean). She has some _interesting_ abilities at her disposal, and she knew exactly what I was thinking and why I was thinking it. The Brain told me that I, like most humans, am afraid of the unknown and what we cannot control. She thinks I am use to fighting in my own way in situations I can control, but because those do not work against the likes of Gideon or the robots, I have become afraid of my enemies because I have no idea how to defeat them. She thinks, rather rightly, that I have seen death as an easier solution than trying to engage in war I believe I cannot win. In order to overcome these fears, she wants me to battle her and defeat her on her terms, terms I cannot control, without using any of my usual tricks (i.e. explosions): a battle where I have no idea what the outcome will be, but one I have to face anyway.

It was a long and unsettling chat. The Brain gave me some harsh truths and I am not sure if I am really ready to accept everything she told me. I admit I have been fighting my way this entire journey, and that it is unsettling when something happens I have no control over, but am I really _afraid _of the unknown like she said? And this battle… I can see what The Brain is trying to teach me – to not be afraid of the unknown, to prepare me to face anything in battle, and therefore preparing me to face my enemies, but how is that really going to help me? Winning a conventional battle won't help me stop the army of killer robots, and I don't see it convincing me that carrying on in this unpredictable nightmare is a good idea. I have no idea what will happen if I can't win on her terms, but the battle is happening whether I want it to or not, so I have no choice but to see where it gets me – maybe there is some hidden message I haven't worked out yet?

I have been training for the last few days with Sandy and all our Pokemon. For a while during the Silph debacle, I thought I had lost them, so it feels so good to have them by my side and out of danger for now; my loyal but silly Paige, my frightful but powerful Frances, my tough and feisty Nadia, and brand new Shelley, who is just all so excited by everything that she it's hard to train her, but we have fun all the same.

Training with them has gotten me thinking more than the chat with The Brain did. Like I said at the start, life is a bitch, but do we really know if death is going to be any better? And, if I die, what is going to happen to all my Pokemon, to my family, to Sandy – and, not to sound melodramatic, but what will happen to Kanto? I don't really want to toot my own horn (trust me, I really don't), but there doesn't seem to be anyone else trying to save Kanto from all this mess, is there?

I am sticking to the choice I made back in Celadon; I need to beat the final four gym leaders before I face my enemies directly, and I need to finish the journey I originally set out on. However, I have realised that my enemies have not made the same decisions I have, so I need to be on a vigilant watch when I venture out again. The key thing now is to defeat The Brain and show her I am not afraid, that I can fight in any conditions… well, I say show her, but really I am trying to show myself that, aren't I?

I'm not sure what else there is to say. I just have to wait and see how this battle goes, whether I can win on someone else's terms or not. I am still not certain if living in this nightmare is really the best option for me, but if death is not the answer, and if there is a giant army of robots out there waiting to kill us all, I better find a way of stopping them, shouldn't I?

Yours fearfully,

Alaska

P.S. I wish I could have told you more about the things I learnt and the people I met, but the spy we met has said revealing any details could only cause panic, that we have to be smarter about things. For the time being, I simply warn y'all not to venture too closely to Silph Co. – and for the love of Arceus, stop watching _Indigo Dreams_. Trust me when I say it is worse than we original thought – _much _worse. You have been warned.


End file.
